He served under five presidents and six deans during his 30-year tenure at Old Dominion, and while Griffith McRee left behind friends and colleagues from the College of Engineering and Technology last month, he took with him the memories of a long and successful career.

In a way, this was an easy goodbye for the associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Over the past few years, McRee acknowledged he was looking forward to trying something new to keep busy during his life after Old Dominion. He said he plans to get involved with commercial property development, particularly office buildings.

"I believe there will be a time when people will want office space close to their home," said McRee. For those who have remote quarters or work from home, there's still a need to go out of the home, whether it is to see clients, get office support or share conference space with other professionals in the same situation, he noted.

A Vietnam War veteran (1964-65) with 10 years of service in the U.S. Army, McRee joined the Old Dominion faculty in 1970 after completing work toward his doctorate at the University of Virginia.

A native Virginian, McRee first taught at West Point Academy, where he attended school years earlier, following his return from Vietnam. He then went on to earn his doctorate in electrical engineering from UVa. His adviser there encouraged him to take the position at Old Dominion. Even though he wouldn't earn his Ph.D. until June 1970, he was hired by Old Dominion in January of that year.

"He is very innovative and he has a considerable imagination," said Jim Cross, director of Old Dominion's wind tunnel and former dean of the College of Engineering and Technology. "He was always willing to take risks and try something new. He was a major factor in the development of the enterprise centers, particularly the Center for Advanced Ship Repair and Maintenance."

After several years in an assistant professor position, Cross brought McRee on as a part-time dean of research and graduate studies, eventually moving into the position of associate dean for the college.

Among the positions he held were associate dean for research and graduate studies and interim dean for the College of Engineering and Technology.

McRee's research focused on control systems.At one point, he was the president of an engineering consulting company, Dominion Engineering Inc. The company, which consisted of four engineering professors from Old Dominion, was started because consulting on the part of engineers wasn't handled well by the university, McRee said. As it turned out, the company demanded too much time and the university became more accommodating so the company folded, he added.

McRee moved out of the classroom when he became interim dean of the college in 1996, but it was teaching and research that he enjoyed the most. "I liked to get in, do it all and do it well." He added, though, "Higher education is changing and that path may not exist in the future."

Reflecting on his years in the classroom, McRee said, "The greatest pleasure that teaching gives is the feedback your get from graduates. It's the intrinsic rewards that make you hang in there. It's not for the money.

"I remember when I came from the University of Virginia. I knew that this was going to be an up-and-coming university. I came with great expectations and I still think it has the potential to be a top university," he said. "The ODUs of the world will be the kind that lead the way to whatever the new paradigm in higher education may be."