"A circular piece of steel, part of the gyroscope that guided a rocket into Christopher Hill's front yard in Baghdad, sits on the desk in his University of Denver office.
On the wall, a collection of photos includes a hair-raising reminder of the day Madedonian protesters battered the door of the U.S. Embassy in Skopje with the embassy flagpole. He offers a wry take on that day in 1999, when his daughter accompanied him to the embassy. "It was an ill-fated 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day.'"
The 58-year old career diplomat retired in August and is now dean of DU's Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Denver's temperate climate and lack of gunplay is a pleasant change from conditions in Baghdad, where temperatures soared above 100 degrees and he required a military escort. "I've had enough of that stuff."
He had planned to join academia after leaving his government job and had been offered a position as a fellow at a school in the East, he said. When he heard that Korbel was looking for a dean, he applied.
