It looks like a giant box of fanfare exploded in Bill Elliott's office. Beneath the large windows of the corner office in Warner Hall, there is a museum of collectibles, including a cross-section of the Fence, a program from the 1939 Sugar Bowl (that pitted Tech against TCU), and a Carnegie Technical Schools lapel pin from 1907. A curtain of pennants covers the bookshelves over his desk, and his door is wallpapered with multiple layers of personal souvenirs from his 38 years at Carnegie Mellon. On June 27, he closed this door one last time, leaving behind his legacy as a collector of university memorabilia, and his position as vice president of enrollment.

Throughout his four decades at Carnegie Mellon, Elliott established himself as the guy who had a personal habit of arriving at the office at 4 a.m., and who was known for writing exclusively with green pens. He was also the man who helped expand the university internationally, including most recently in Qatar, where there is now an undergraduate campus. He created the innovative sleeping-bag weekend, so prospective students could attend classes and spend the night on campus. Carnegie Mellon, which now attracts more than 25,000 applicants annually, received only 3,500 applications in 1970 when Elliott began working in admissions.

Elliott is retiring to Maine, in a house that is just 85 feet from deck to water.

Despite his retirement, he doesn't intend to drop off the Carnegie Mellon map. He is slated to work on several projects for the university, which could add up to a full-time job.

KATE DUNFEE