Ann Arbor's Leslie Science and Nature Center is heading into uncharted territory. For the first time since 1988, Kirsten Levinsohn won't be running the place.

Her replacement, one Greta Brunschwyler, is by all accounts well-liked and well-positioned to lead the center into the new decade. Her task is to take the house that Levinsohn ran onto the next level, in terms of funding streams, facilities and community engagement.

But Monday was Levinsohn's day, her send-off from friends, staffers and a community that's supported the nature center - and by definition her efforts - over the last two decades.

Most of Levinsohn's well-wishers took a moment to write a warm memory on Levinsohn's "time vine" or on blank cards provided near the exit. Each guest made a point to get in one last hug, one last thank you, one last story on his or her way out.

Next stop for Levinsohn is New Haven, Conn. Her husband, Jim, is already there, having started on Feb. 1 as the director of Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

When Levinsohn arrives in New Haven this weekend, her immediate plan is to volunteer for New Haven Reads and put her classroom background into use. Once she's at eye level she'll have a better idea of what opportunities exist locally.

"I don't want to get out there and try to recreate the past," Levinsohn said. "But I'll certainly find new challenges to keep myself busy."

One advantage of moving out East is that her sons, who attend college in Massachusetts, will only be three hours away.

Things had begun to wind down a bit on Monday when Francie Krawcke, raptor specialist at the nature center, presented Levinsohn with a certificate with a surprise honor. The center is set to receive a rescued barn owl in the spring. As the nature center's website explains, barn owls have been spotted here or there in Southeast Michigan, but there are no nesting pairs.

The barn owl will be a part of the nature center's Educational Birds of Prey program, which Levinsohn has cited as integral to the center's recent success. When she first arrived in 1988, the nature center served less than 200 guests a year and was more likely to host a wedding than a school field trip. Now it serves more than 40,000 visitors annually.

Levinsohn will be in New Haven when the barn owl arrives and when the bird shelter is complete. But when the shelter is finished it will bear her name, Krawcke said.

That brought Levinsohn to the brink of tears.

What a way to go.

James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.