Last March, during my performance review, I told the provost at OSU I was going to retire sometime about July 1, 2025. When we were discussing succession planning a few years ago, I told him that I would give him at least a year’s notice if I were able to do so, and I decided sometime over the 2023 holiday break that this was going to be it for me.

And so it is. Depending on the search to find my replacement, who that person is, whether they want to start right away or come later due to existing obligations, I’m shooting for summer, 2025. The final details are TBD, but I could leave earlier or later depending on circumstances.

I wanted to give as much notice as possible because I know from firsthand experience that it’s sometimes hard for a good person to hear about, apply, interview, and accept a job that pops up in your inbox one morning, and to do it all in three months. I’m not taking another job in the traditional sense, so I’m not going to depart on short notice and force the university to go through the appointment of an interim, and a rush to find a search firm, and move through the process of selecting the next person.

I want the transition to a new VP to be smooth and professional, and more than anything, I want a good person to take my place. In that regard, know that I’m happy to have talks with anyone who wants to think about this opportunity, either in person at NACAC or another location where we both happen to be, or via phone or Zoom.

OSU is a great place to work; I came here in 2019 because I saw it was an extraordinarily undervalued stock, so to speak, and I still believe that’s the case. In addition, Oregon is among the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, and the people here are great, both at the university and in the state.

I think the next person can take this university to the place it needs to be, from an enrollment perspective. I know we’ve accomplished a lot in my time here, but there is always more to do. No one will tell anyone these days that an enrollment job will be easy, but I have had a lot of fun here, and I believe there is much more fun to have.

I’ve told a few people over the last few weeks, and I get three questions: “Why now?” ,”What are you going to do?,” and “Where are you going to live?”

To the first question, the answer is “It’s just time.” I’m not sick (that I know of) and there is nothing pressing me to do this, other than creeping arthritis that might make it hard to do some of the things I want to do. I did write about the concept of waking up every morning worrying about “The Number,” but that’s not it.

Yes, this was a horrible year because of the FAFSA debacle, but the multiple challenges would have been a perfect excuse to relieve someone of responsibility for a bad class, as would the concern about the mass desertion of the PAC-12 which was brought about by greed and stupidity. Despite all that, however, we’ll have another record fall enrollment (and we’ll be the only Public R1 that can claim 28-year consecutive years of fall-over-fall growth) and we will likely be a bit above last year’s record on new first-time students, which I had foolishly promised would be the last record class for a while. The enrollment gods are fickle, and are equally likely to be good as they are bad.

It wasn’t any of that. It was just the feeling over the long holiday break last year that I’ve been doing this long enough. It is the realization that I’ve been in TIAA/CREF/Fidelity for 40 years, and it’s been worth it to invest more than the minimum in your retirement (our adviser said the only question now is whether we want to fly first class or we want our kids to fly first class). It’s the realization that my father died a few days after his 70th birthday, and I’ll be sneaking up on 67 when my retirement is official.

It’s time to let someone else have a turn.

The answer to the second question is still unclear. When people have asked, I’ve said I’m not going to quit working all together, but whether I choose to be a Wal-Mart greeter or do some occasional consulting, or something in between, I’m not sure. I’m happy to hear suggestions or talk about small projects when the time comes, and I’ve registered domains and created a website in case I want to do some engagements. I’d like to do some more photography and get better at Lightroom and Photoshop.

But the simple release of not dealing every day with an alarm clock, the requisite march to the shower, and then the commute to the office will be reward enough, in some sense. And, although I did mention this earlier on LinkedIn, I’m not doing any more PowerPoint presentations at conferences. No more webinars, and no more podcasts. As a genetically-coded introvert, those are things that cause me the most stress and internal turmoil.

The third question is mostly decided. We still own our house in Illinois, and will almost certainly move back there. We’ve talked about keeping the house in Oregon because we love it here so much, but we don’t think that’s practical, and we have no family here.

People have also asked if I’ll keep writing this blog, and working with higher ed data on my other blog. The short answer is that I haven’t decided. I get comments from people that they enjoy both, but I too often feel like I’m shouting into the void. I’m often taken back to T.S. Eliot’s East Coker, and find poignancy in the lines,

“…one has only learnt to get the better of words
For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which
One is no longer disposed to say it.”

But we shall see.

There are too many people–alive and dead, or whereabouts and status both known and unknown–to thank for my good fortune or to attempt to account for here. I’m grateful for the help, the guidance, the advice, the wisdom, and–especially–for the bad examples. Each word, and every action, has put me where I am today, and whatever the future holds, I carry a little of every life experience forward.

I plan for my last year here to be my best.