It’s with satisfaction, relief, anticipation, and a tinge of sadness, that I submitted my intention to retire in August of this year. I will have been with the University of Illinois for twenty years, half of those in the College of Education and half in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The retirement means that I’ll be changing my mode of work, with more attention to writing and more international projects.
I’ve enjoyed and benefitted greatly from my time here, and even more from working with you all. I can’t think of another group anywhere with such high collegiality, dedication, moral perception, and responsible leadership. The scholarship, teaching, and learning have always been outstanding and there’s been a lot of fun on top of it all.
I expect to continue working part-time on the Youth Community Informatics and Community Informatics Corps grants through June, 2011, and perhaps do other work after that, so this is not a good-bye, just an announcement about a new role for me.
Best wishes and enjoy all the snow,
Chip
Chip's journey 
Enjoy Chip! Many thanks for being such a great colleague even to faraway folk Down Under. Come back and see us some time…
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Congrats, Chip! I should be all moved to Shanghai by the time you go so we can meet up again on the other side of the world. 🙂
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Chip,
Congratulations on your decesion. Although you will be going p/t which is a good thing to keep you and your mind active, leave some quality time for yourself & family. It sounds like you will to contribute to society even without pay. There’s always volunteering to teach for Junior Achievment.
Good luck.
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This reminds me of an argument we once had with Daddy in which we claimed that he only has had three real jobs in his life, since he has only had three employers (not counting summer jobs, etc.) He rightfully responded that this didn’t reflect the many more transformations his work, ideas, and teaching have undergone across those institutions. So while some things are obviously going to change, I’m sure we’re actually going to see a lot of continuities in his “employment.” Mr. Stone, Stephen and I are pretty resistant to any kind of change. But we do like the idea of our parents traveling to and working in more exotic places where we can visit them!
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Thanks for the kind comments. You and others who’ve commented here, as well as many others, have made this work enriching and satisfying.
I’m looking forward to some new adventures. How the family will deal with it is a good question! I’ll invite them to weigh in here.
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Congratulations on your retirement, Chip! I have no doubt that you’ll continue to make significant contributions to the world.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, passion, and thoughts regarding education with me, and passing my name on to others for significant learning and development opportunities.
How is the rest of the family feeling about the next step?
Dave
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I sure hope so! In the near time, it may be to Gothenburg, Sweden in October/November, and to Fudan University, Shanghai next January.
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Best of luck Chip, does ‘International work’ mean more time for coming back to Ireland and working with us! Abi 🙂
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It’s a loss for UIUC but a great gain for people who really look forward to reading more of your many views and knowledge in many topics. The most loving and rewarding experience is to listen to you putting many threads together in discussing a topic. All those threads that seemed to scatter around the ocean of knowledge but get picked out by you.
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Chip,
Best wishes from Ireland and good luck with the transition.
As we now recognize lifelong learning then there will surely be a need for lifelong teachers.
Looks like you mean to keep busy “….more attention to writing and international work”
Go for it!
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Yeah Chip !
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