TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — After almost 36 years at Troy University, Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr. announced his retirement.

After making the announcement Hawkins invited members of the media to his officer in order to share more information about his decision.

“I’ll be 80 years old in March and we’ve concluded that we want some time to do other things,” Hawkins said.

ORIGINAL STORY: Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. announces upcoming retirement

With having almost the past four decades of his life committed to Troy, Hawkins said the decision to retire wasn’t easy.

“When you’ve served as long as as I have you you begin to think about those things and you begin to think about where you are in life and then you begin to think about things that you need to do and things that you don’t have the time to do. For example, we’ve had only a couple of vacations over the years but I think it sort of came to a point then that maybe before too many years pass we need to experience other things.”

The Troy University community may be wondering what now? Although he made the announcement a few days ago, Hawkins will not actually retire until October 2025. Once his retirement begins, however, Hawkins plans to be still be around.

“I’ll still be involved. The board has privileged me and honored me with the the role of Chancellor of Emeritus and so I’m not going to disappear. I’m going to be engaged at Troy, I just won’t be here on a daily basis. I believe friend-raising precedes fundraising. I think I can still contribute in terms of helping raise the resources to keep things at a very high level and improve.”

KEEP READING: Students react to Chancellor’s retirement announcement

According to Troy University, Hawkins is the longest-serving CEO of a public university in the nation.