Daniel Gade, a nominee to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said Thursday he has withdrawn from consideration, even as his name still appeared on a U.S. Senate activity calendar and as lawmakers scrambled to strike a deal to confirm the agency’s nominees before the end of the year.

Gade told The National Law Journal in a phone interview that he informed the White House in November he no longer wished to be considered for a post on the EEOC. Gade said he has accepted a teaching position at American University that begins in January.