The data are striking. Public school teachers are feeling overworked, burned out, underpaid, un-respected, and ready to leave the profession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 570,000 fewer teachers and school leaders than before the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences are numerous: cancelled classes, less one-on-one attention to students, and reduced homework, all leading to educational loss.

During a previous period of teacher shortages, many colleges began to recruit early retirees from business and military veterans to special teacher training programs supported by states. It is time to revisit this idea for three reasons. First, because we need to recruit teachers, second because colleges are seeking new sources of students, and third because higher education institutions and systems require new leadership.

The average campus president’s age has risen, the tenure in office has continued to decline, and the number planning to retire has increased, including those who delayed retirement due to COVID-19.

For teachers, professors, and administrators, the last few years have been difficult, requiring rapid changes in program delivery and safety measures, as well as intense pressure on the economics of schooling and college. An added dimension at both levels is the almost constant criticism from politicians and the public about costs and curricula.

One of the greatest challenges for teachers is “classroom management,” i.e., the maintenance of an environment conducive to respectful discussion and inquiry. Two reasons for this challenge are the increasing number of special needs students and larger class sizes. There are numerous examples of veterans earning education degrees to undertake careers as schoolteachers and counselors. They are trained in managing groups, maintaining order, and focusing on goals. They also have experience as well as training in working with diverse groups, and they themselves are a diverse population.

Given the turnover of teachers and the need to support our public schools and children with qualified teachers, it makes sense to look once again at veterans as potential teachers. This strategy would help our schools, the veterans, and the colleges seeking students.

For campus leaders, one of the biggest challenges is to find candidates who have been prepared for dealing with uncertainty. According to recent surveys, the chief academic officers, sometimes called provosts, are not as interested in moving up as they once were. In addition, the challenges of office require talents and attributes unlikely to be developed in the typical academic career leading to administrative responsibility.

The skills and attributes required are those most necessary for institutional leadership. These include mission focus, strategic thinking, concise communication skills in written and oral forms, flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, and comfort in taking responsibility. These are not the attributes usually associated with a department chairperson who becomes a dean.

However, these are skills and attributes developed during military service, thus making veterans a strong pool not only for recruiting teachers but also campus leaders. Over the past few decades, the military has put high priority on the education and advanced study of senior noncommissioned officers and officers themselves.

While academic and intellectual attitudes toward the military tended to be negative following the Vietnam War, recent decades have witnessed a greater appreciation for the distinction between military and political decision-making, the advanced education of active-duty officers, and the important role played in civic affairs by retired military personnel. Graduates of West Point, the Air Force Academy, and the Naval Academy, among others, have become academic leaders and have served with distinction in civilian public and private colleges and universities.

Examples include the presidents of Ramapo College of New Jersey, West Virginia State University, the University of Texas System, Hampton University, Mills College, and the University of Nebraska System. I, myself, served in the U.S. Naval Security Group during the Vietnam era before returning to higher education. While at Cornell, I counseled veterans, some of whom became educators.

With the demographic, financial, political, and technological challenges facing higher education, the declining interest of chief academic officers in advancing to the presidency, and the mixed, at best, success of those from business in serving as campus presidents, it is time to give greater attention to retired veterans as potential leaders. They understand the primacy of mission, the essential need to tolerate ambiguity and be adaptable, and the importance of strategic thinking and communications. They are trained to be comfortable in assuming responsibility in challenging circumstances. These are essential characteristics for campus leaders.

Military veterans can help us fill the pipelines for two critical needs in contemporary society, classroom teachers and campus leaders.

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Working as a Veteran in HigherEd

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