Michael McGreevey’s son, Liam, knows where the good candy jars are in his dad’s office. McGreevey, the executive assistant to President Peggy R. Williams, said his kids love visiting the third floor of Job Hall, where they get to run between the offices and say hi to their dad’s friends.

“At one point Peggy had a [stuffed animal] and Liam would come in and he’d bypass everybody and go right to that,” he said.

Next week McGreevey will pull the birth announcements of his three kids off the back of his office door; Liam’s has been taped there for five years, and the blue paper is now faded. After 19 years at Ithaca College, parting for a job farther north, at Wells College in Aurora N.Y., will be difficult.

“[Working here] has just been an incredible, wonderful experience that will always mean a lot,” he said.

McGreevey came to Ithaca directly after finishing graduate school. He worked in campus activities and orientation and then spent two years in academic affairs at the Ithaca College London Center. He came back to South Hill for a short period and then found himself back at the London Center as the director, a job he held for four years. He received a second master’s degree in Communications from the Roy H. Park School of Communications in 2003.

He’s been the executive assistant to the president for nine years now, but it still seems like he works in countless other offices; it’s the nature of the job. He fields complaints from parents and students, lobbies on behalf of the college in Washington and Albany and deals with community relations. He’s a problem solver and a multi-tasker — the eyes and ears of the president, her senior adviser.

And while the challenge is exciting, it’s also one of the few things he has found frustrating about his job, as he rarely gets to stay with one project long or at any depth.

“At times looking at this job I’m just like ‘Oh, I’d really like to just sink my teeth right into this and spend the day working on that.’ That’s not always reality for the work I do.”

The reality of his job is a lot of behind-the-scenes work, and after nine years, McGreevey said he’s excited for a change.

“I’m ready to step from behind the curtain and lead my own show a little bit,” he said.

As vice president for development at Wells College, McGreevey will be building and leading an institutional advancement operation, similar to Ithaca College’s Capital Campaign. Their campaign will aim to raise the school’s endowment from $40 million to $100 million.

McGreevey said he is not sure if he’d be leaving if President Williams were not retiring at the end of the year, but the timing seems right. The reality of switching schools is still hard for both him and his coworkers.

“I don’t think it’s probably hit any of us [that he’s leaving],” Williams said. “… Maybe that’s good in the end because we don’t have too much time to be melancholy.”

Margie Malepe, associate director of conference and events services, has been a close friend of McGreevey’s since he first came to the school. They shared an apartment nearly 20 years ago, and she said that he was a great roommate — driving her to the hospital in the middle of the night when she was sick and coming to her rescue after a car accident. She said she has never heard a person at the college say a bad thing about him.

“He really manages to just reach out and try to understand the other perspective and reach a middle ground,” she said.

McGreevey met his wife, Karen, at the college and was introduced to her through friends. During his time in London, he was told by more than one visiting student or faculty member that there was a woman in Ithaca that would be perfect for him.

“It was like ‘You guys have to know each other.  You’ve got to,’” he said. “I was very realistic or logical and said ‘I’m sure she’s a nice person. However, I live thousands of miles away.’”

Upon returning to Ithaca, he and Karen were officially introduced. Last year, they celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary.

“He’s extremely loyal, and as a father and husband he’s very protective and loving,” she said. “He’s romantic, very much so, [and] brings me flowers just out of the blue.”

Their family plans to move about 20 minutes closer to McGreevey’s new job, but they will stay in the Ithaca area — something both he and his coworkers said they are relieved about.

McGreevey’s last day at the college is March 14. He starts at Wells College on March 17 — Saint Patrick’s Day. For a good Irish guy, he said, it’s fitting.

“It’s the right position, the right place,” he said.  “It doesn’t make it any easier to leave some place you love and a job you love,” he said.

A farewell reception will be held for McGreevey today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Clark Lounge.