The Foreign Service Journal, February 2010

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 tirement in late 1998, not having been in the job market since entering the State Department in 1965. I quickly found that having been a political counselor, country di- rector, deputy chief of mission or chargé d’affaires — the posts we in the Service esteem and so intensely compete for — really counts for very little in the outside world. Making the Jump What seemed to matter more in the various interviews I had was my tenure as president of the American School Board in Casablanca or as executive director of the Associ- ation for Diplomatic Studies and Training — a wonderful springboard to retirement whose title seemed to evoke for outsiders executive andmanagement experience. Also very important, ultimately, were command of the language (Greek) and positive recommendations from people in Thessaloniki and Athens whom I had known and worked with before. Anatolia College’s board of trustees was seeking both a visible American identity and command of Greek in its new president — which, of course, narrowed the field to my advantage. As my experience demonsrates, FSOs considering an academic second career should not sell short the value of their country expertise, contacts and language. An increasing number of American college presidents are “non-traditional;” that is, from outside the academy. In part, this is because the demands of managing a diverse constituency, conducting fundraising and cultivating rela- tionships with the host government require skills and ex- perience that are not part of the traditional academic career path. Globalization is now an article of faith within acade- mia, with study abroad becoming a degree requirement on some campuses, sparking frenzied competition for attrac- tive overseas venues. Coping with the demands of managing exponential growth in the number of study-abroad students at Anato- lia; new agreements with schools like Northeastern Uni- versity, the University of NorthDakota, Boston College and Texas Tech University; and research programs with Oxford, Columbia and the Mystic Aquarium was an area where I believe I had a distinct advantage as a former FSO. This is not to say that, as an outsider, a former diplomat will not encounter a degree of healthy skepticism from ac- ademic colleagues — particularly if he or she lacks an earned doctorate, as I did. Yet this is something all of us in the Foreign Service have encountered in the form of polit- ical ambassadors parachuted into embassies from outside. Over time, we learned to take advantage of the skills they brought, which were often considerable. When the shoe is on the other foot, and we are the in- terlopers, the work most of us have been doing for many years comes into play: using our listening skills, showing empathy and projecting a sense of optimism — which, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell used to say, is the best form of leverage. In fact, the typical academic staff meeting, at least as I experienced it in Greece, is more free- wheeling and, frankly, more fun than the more constrained, self-conscious and top-down State version. This, too, was a learning experience. Prelude to a Third Stage Ten years is about the right length of time, I believe, to test whatever ideas one brings and leave some imprint, hopefully for the better, on an academic institution. I am now beginning a new phase in Wellington, Fla., in which I find that the combination of Foreign Service experience and academic management is relatively unique and in de- mand. Excellent organizations like the Registry of College and University Presidents make short-term assignments, both abroad and in the States, and offer opportunities for consulting or feasibility studies. Thus, an academic second career can be the prelude to a third stage of professional involvement, if one wishes. There is strong demand across our country today for in- ternational student directors and study-abroad advisers, a field in which many former FSOs have done extremely well. At the level of college president, probably our great- est advantage lies overseas, where age and the lack of a doc- torate seem less daunting obstacles to overcome than back at home. In addition, area experience and language flu- ency are to a greater extent countervailing positive factors when applying for overseas academic positions. Vacan- cies also come up more suddenly there. I know one former chief of mission currently consid- ering a challenging new academic vacancy in Africa. Yet while an ambassadorial title helps, it is by no means a re- quirement. At the end of the day, friends and contacts in countries where one has served will be important assets, but those interested should also draw on Internet listings such as the Chronicle of Higher Education , the Journal of Philanthropy and the AAICUWeb site (www.aaicu.org ). For all these reasons, I would certainly recommend an academic second career to Foreign Service colleagues. ■ F O C U S