After nearly 25 years as the University of Virginia's head gatekeeper, John Blackburn, dean of undergraduate admissions, will retire at the end of the 2008-09 academic year.
Yet, when he was a student attending Western Maryland College, Blackburn never thought he would spend nearly his entire working life in an undergraduate environment.
"When I was in college, I didn't even think of jobs in college [aside from faculty positions] as real work," Blackburn said. "But then I was my student-body president, became close with the dean of students [and] saw some fascinating work that went on there."
Before becoming involved with higher education, Blackburn served in the army for four years. There, he began to realize that a college community would provide him with both an interesting work opportunity and a great place to raise a family; furthermore, Blackburn said, a college campus provides a different type of atmosphere.
"I thought that
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