The Leadership Beyond the Military: Veterans Transforming Academia series aims to feature individuals who have served in the military and higher education in a variety of capacities and roles. HigherEdMilitary enourages transitioning service members to consider civilian careers in higher education as their next profession and aims to provide career advice and stories from those who have followed similar career paths. Join us in welcoming Robert A. Scott, admissions counselor turned college president, as we learn about his military and higher education career.

Please start by sharing a little bit about yourself, your military affiliation, and career path into higher education:

I am Robert A. Scott, PhD, President Emeritus, Adelphi University and Ramapo College of New Jersey; former leader of the Indiana Commission on Higher Education and the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, the only person to hold the top three posts in American higher education: president of a private university; president of a public institution; and leader of a state-wide higher education coordinating commission. I am the author of, "How University Boards Work," Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018, with a second edition forthcoming. I qualified for Navy Petty Officer rank First Class by testing but did not have sufficient years in service to be promoted before leaving the Navy.

My first foray into higher education, after being a student, was when I was enrolled in the Skaggs Island Naval Communications Station Cryptography School outside Napa, California. In school, I was encouraged to ask questions and even suggested improvements for the curriculum. I was assigned to prepare a new study guide and train the trainers. After graduation, I was sent to the Naval Communications Station in San Miquel, the Philippines.

While there, I taught introductory English, my college major, at the University of the Philippines extension center in Subic Bay. The students were mostly enlisted personnel and spouses. I also volunteered to write articles for "Stars and Stripes," the military newspaper. These "extramural" activities helped me hone skills and abilities and meet people beyond my small work cohort.

Before entering the Navy, I worked at Proctor and Gamble (P&G) in marketing and sales management, a coveted job in my senior class at Bucknell University. However, I decided I would not return to P&G after the Navy and would go to law school instead. Upon my release from the Navy, I went to register at law school and turned around. I decided on the spot that I did not want to follow the path that my wife's family was encouraging, becoming an associate at the firm of their friend. My Navy experience certainly bolstered my feeling of independence.

Instead, I called the president's office at Bucknell and reminded the person who answered that at commencement four years earlier the president had offered me a job in the admissions office. Well, as luck would have it, they had a job and offered it to me. I had been president of my class, head of the Judicial Board, and student assistant to the dean, so I was known to the president and the director of admissions.

How has your military experience shaped your work in higher education? Can you describe a challenging moment in your academic leadership where your military training helped you navigate it?

The Navy gave me the opportunity to observe different styles of leadership as exercised by junior officers my age, senior enlisted sailors with years of experience, and more advanced officers with extensive technical and strategic assignments behind them. Watching the individuals in these different groups confront tactical, personnel, and moral issues, and attempt to muster support for a direction to follow was instructional.

Years later, when I was in a meeting with the vice president (VP) for administration and finance, I was told that a group of students were starting a sit-in at the student center in a protest over admissions policies and minority student enrollment. The VP said I should call the police. I said that I would go meet with the students. After about 45 minutes, I said I would investigate the issues raised as they were the result of state commission policy, not local board action.

A few weeks later, the Chancellor of Higher Education visited campus to talk with me about state policy. I greeted the chancellor and his chauffeur at their car to welcome them to campus. Before guiding the chancellor to my office, the driver asked if he could say something to me. I said, "Of course." He had an idea about the signage guiding visitors from the highway to the campus. I made a note of his idea and brought the chancellor to the office.

At my next meeting with the aforementioned VP, I told him about the suggestion offered by the driver. Instead of considering the idea, he asked where I got it. When I said that the chancellor's driver suggested it, he was insulted. Why would I ask him to consider a suggestion from a driver? Needless to say, that VP did not last long.

These two incidents reminded me of the effective officers I met in the Navy. They understood that knowledge can be found anywhere, at any level, and that listening is necessary for problem-solving.

What advice do you have for other military-affiliated professionals looking to work in higher education?

On the surface the culture of the military and the culture of a college or university are vastly different, with one being regimented and one being more individual. The military can be a helpful background for university administrators and executives because it devotes so much time to professional development through instruction and organized experiences. I know several military veterans who are effective campus presidents.

Based on your experience, what can higher education learn from the military and what can the military learn from higher education?

Higher education can learn from the military's focus on professional development. We in higher education give too little attention to faculty and staff learning. Just think about our expectations for faculty leadership and participation in governance. We give too little attention to preparing faculty to be program heads and department chairs. And how much attention is given to preparing faculty for their roles on a faculty senate and in shared governance? Very little. The military offers learning models worth emulating.

However, both the military and the campus can improve in an important way. Each draws ridgid distinctions between categories of jobs. The military distinguishes between officers and the enlisted ranks in many ways, and the academy draws distinctions between faculty and staff as well. Community and communication can be enhanced when these barriers are more porous and there is greater camaraderie and respect across the ranks. The Navy tries this with "Rope Yarn Sunday", a break in the routine called by the base or ship's Captain, and we see this at all-campus holiday parties and end of semester picnics hosted by the institution's president.

I have reflected on my experiences in the Navy over the years and what I learned. They include lessons about trust and respect, the value of inquisitiveness, the benefit of evidence, and the need to make and take opportunities. I know I was a better leader because of my service.

Article Topics

Job Search Advice Serving Military in HigherEd Working as a Veteran in HigherEd

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