Cynthia Milligan, dean of UNL’s College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1998, announced plans to retire at the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The college will begin a search for a replacement.

“This is the best job I ever had,” said Milligan, who has also been a practicing lawyer, banking regulator, government adviser, college teacher and private consultant.

Her husband, Robert Milligan, begins a term next year as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and that position will demand extensive travel.

“I believe in our doing things together,” Milligan said. He is chairman of MI Industries, a Lincoln pet food company.

During Milligan’s tenure, enrollment in CBA rose from 2,060 to 3,017, an increase of about half.

“I believe in our mission of being student-centered,” Milligan said. “It’s more fun to be around students and help open horizeons for them. It is hard to leave it.”

Milligan said she is proud of the college’s emphasis on leadership and ethics, educating young people who, as new leaders, will act ethically and know the global economy.

The college was strong internationally when she arrived, she said, but has since emphasized more international programs, including a new one in China.

Among new programs is a Freshman Business Leadership class which the college said produced a dramatic increase in student retention in the college.

The MBA program is now completely online and growing, the college said. She led the establishment of the UNL Leadership Institute to enhance the commitment to ethical decision- making.

Milligan was also part of the team that developed the J.D. Edwards Honors Program, which is now the highly regarded Jeffrey Raikes School of Computer Science and Management.

Milligan earned a bachelor’s degree in French at the University of Kansas, and a law degree at George Washington University. She practiced law in Washington, D.C., from 1970 to 1977, then was a senior partner in the Lincoln law firm of Rembolt, Ludtke, Parker, Milligan and Berger from 1977 to 1987.

From 1987 to 1991 she was education adviser to Gov. Kay Orr and director of the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance.

Prior to being appointed dean in 1998, she was president of Cynthia Milligan and Associates, consultants to the banking industry. She has been adjunct professor of tax law at Georgetown University, an adjunct professor of law in banking at the NU law college and a guest lecturer in banking at CBA.

Milligan is the daughter of Clifford Hardin, chancellor of the University of Nebraska and Secretary of Agriculture in the Nixon administration.