Hibel: Dr. Reilly, you have the rare distinguished title of being a former United States Astronaut. However, before NASA, you had a career in the petroleum sector as a manager and exploration geologist responsible for numerous expeditions from Texas to West Antarctica as well as being a U.S. Navy Reserve Officer 1. How did your passion for the sciences begin and what did you learn from these pre-astronaut experiences?
Reilly: Early on I recognized that I truly enjoyed science and found my curiosity piqued by the rocks that surrounded my home in Southern California and later in Texas. I didn’t know at the time that I would ultimately become a geologist since my first love has been and is flying. I wanted to be an astronaut from the age of 8 when John Glenn was on his first flight. A dentist in Vancouver, Wash., was working on my teeth and listening to John as he talked with Mission Control in Houston. Back then, we didn’t have satellite communications so when John had radio communications to the ground stations, Dr. Smith would stop working on my teeth and listen to John for up to 10-12 minutes. After one pass, he asked me if I thought I might like to be an astronaut someday. All I could think of was, “Anywhere but here!” The idea, however, stuck and I followed every crew all the way to the shuttle program. Later, when I was in college, I changed my major from aerospace engineering to geosciences. My decision was solely based on changing my major from what I thought would be a good choice to one that I truly enjoyed. The secret I tell students is to study what you really like. If you do, you will do well. Don’t make a decision based on what you think you might earn but base it on what you would enjoy doing even if you didn’t get paid for it. You will be amazed at where it will take you.
For me, that geosciences interest took me to Antarctica, the deep oceans, and ultimately to space. I still work with teams at NASA to build a training program in geology for the future crews that will one day set foot back on the moon and put the first human print on Mars. I can safely say my interest in geology has taking me everywhere I have ever wanted to go and I have never felt I was “having to go to work,” which is a measure of what is best in life. From the time I first began my work as a geologist to today, the most important lesson I learned in all of my experiences is no one person can do everything. We all depend on team effort to succeed. In the Antarctic, in the deep ocean, in the Navy, and certainly in space we truly depended on our team as each member had to do his or her part of the job. If they didn’t, the possibility was someone would lose a life. I have a very strong interest in team cohesion and find it is sometimes the easiest but more often one of the hardest principles to instill in a group.
Hibel: You were selected to become a part of the NASA astronaut program in 1994. Please explain the process of being selected and the training incurred.
Reilly: Being considered for the astronaut program is as simple as putting in an application, which I did for the first time in 1985. However, to be competitive, I had to work on my qualifications, which for me was to obtain my Ph.D. While working on my education, I was also working full-time as a regional geologist then the chief geologist for an exploration company in Dallas. I can safely say that was the hardest thing I have ever done. Ultimately, though, that got me considered for a position with NASA. As you note, I finally interviewed in 1994 with a group of 19 other people who were the most qualified people I had ever met. It was a very humbling experience. I never thought I would be selected but I was with five other members of our interview group, which was somewhat extraordinary. We reported to work on March 6, 1995, and immediately began training. Training was like learning an entirely new career, which it was. We spent a year learning the basics before we completed our candidate training and were ready to move into our job assignments. My very first job was to test the software that flew the shuttle. That was a lot different than geosciences! We each had to learn a lot about what we didn’t already know. What helped was a finely developed interest in what we would now call “lifelong learning.”
Hibel: I’m sure you have been asked this question many times, but please describe the experience of being an astronaut and how did this it shape your personal and professional views?
Reilly: In many ways, not much. I like to think I am pretty much who I was before the experience. The reality is probably different since anything as momentous as achieving your largest goal in life is bound to have a significant impact. I would have to answer that the most significant change is the ability to operate well in a team environment and to focus on what is important and avoid the interesting but not relevant things that distract many teams. To be successful in space we managed our time in seconds and minutes so we had to be very efficient. We also had to work very closely together since each job for each person was dependent on the others. I think I can now make much better decisions on what is important and feel I work better as part of a team than I could have before my experiences at NASA.
Hibel: After retiring from NASA in 2008 you worked in the corporate world before accepting a position in higher education as dean of the School of Science and Technology at American Public University System (APUS). 2 What prompted your move to make a difference in academia?
Reilly: That was an interesting change for me since I had never been an academic. I have always been more operational in my career pursuits and rarely in an instructional role. My association with APUS began when a friend who I worked with in the military space field mentioned there was a job opening for a program director in space studies. To be honest, I wasn’t all that interested, but he kept insisting I would be a good fit and pushed me to apply. Once I did submit the application, I received a call from the dean, Dr. Pat Ford, who informed me I was overqualified for the program director position. I thanked him for the call and started to hang up but he stopped me and urged me to apply for the dean of the college of science and technology. We talked about my lack of academic experience but he convinced me the job wasn’t all that different from the management jobs I had experienced before. The rest, as they say, is history. Once in academia, however, a teacher of mine in high school came to mind. He told me at the time that I should consider education in my future as I would be a good instructor. I have to say he was correct. I spent some time in the astronaut corps as one of our astronaut instructors. I teach space operations for the USAF and USN, and work with corporations. I find I really enjoy the interaction with the different people.
Hibel: APUS is an online university system that serves more than 100,000 working adults worldwide. 3 This is an impressive number and shows that there is a true market of working professionals seeking higher education. How does APUS successfully serve this adult population and why is it so important to reach these individuals?
Reilly: Education is changing very rapidly. APUS is part of the major changes being experienced in higher education where students and faculty no longer solely interact inside fixed facilities. Online education is where the profession is going and it provides some real benefits to both. For the students, they no longer have to be resident at a geographic location to receive their education. This was, and remains, a very important capability for our military folks and families. Since they rarely stay located in one place for the time it takes to obtain a degree in a conventional setting, they can now receive their education anywhere, even in foxholes in Afghanistan which is a true story. Outside the military, many of our students are doing what I was doing: working full-time and trying to compete a degree program. Being online and asynchronous, in other words, not connected at a specific time, adult working students have the flexibility to perform their educational requirements at times that work best for them. One other advantage to the system is by being online we can engage faculty from literally anywhere in the world to provide the experiences and expertise that would otherwise not be available. Many of our faculty are the experts in their fields and can teach not only the academic requirements but also provide the “been there, done that” experiences that are vitally important to truly understanding the subject and successfully retaining that knowledge.
Hibel: How does solely using the online medium change the way that your institution teaches?
Reilly: Being solely online has advantages and challenges. In the physical classroom, I can see if the students are “getting it.” In the virtual classroom, we are more dependent on other means of assessment. One thing we lose in the online world is the personal experience. In the classroom I can interact with the students before, during, and after class and get to know them better. This social activity is vitally important for developing team cohesion, as we experienced in NASA with our space station and shuttle crews. Since we never see our students, it is more difficult to make that personal connection. One thing that we do at the beginning of each course is have each student deliver an online introduction. When I do this I ask them to provide something more than “I am a geologist and work in the oil industry,” but also to add something not many people might know about them. This helps identify the online persona as someone the others in the class would get to know in their “real” world.
In the academics realm where learning objectives are built and met, it isn’t a great deal different in concept. It does change a bit in practice, however, in that robust assessment techniques must be employed to validate the students progress. This is a critical skill for S&T programs where some concepts are dependent on being a good instructor. Without seeing the student, it is an important skill for the instructor to be conversant and comfortable in operating in the discussion boards (sort of expanded chat rooms) where learning interaction will take place.
Hibel: In addition to your initial APUS role as the dean for science and technology, and now as associate vice president of strategic relations for STEM programs, you are also a public speaker and instructor for team and leadership training activities for companies and organizations worldwide.2 The terms leadership and teamwork are essential in the workplace. What are your top three suggestions for a new leader in order to be effective in higher education and do you think they differ for administrators and academics?
Reilly: The best lesson in leadership I ever received was from my commander on my first flight. Col. Terry Wilcutt, U.S. Marines, used a very simple philosophy in managing our team: trust your people. In spite of very different backgrounds and even nationalities, Terry had to bring the team together. He did it not by being directive and constantly being involved. He did it with very simple approach: he assigned us our tasks then monitored performance with three questions: Do you have a plan? Is it working? Are you ahead or behind? If the answers were all positive that is all he needed to know. If we had a problem, he would ask detailed questions about the conditions then ask for our recommendations. He would then let us proceed and would execute any changes in the background so that the assigned members of the crew were recognized as the points of contact for their areas of responsibility. This had the effect of giving each of us the responsibility of achieving the goals of our mission and it also invested us in the outcomes. At the conclusion, he also made sure that recognition was given for the crew members responsible and never for himself.
For a new leader I would suggest following Terry’s lead. The faculty or staff you will lead have self-selected to be in academia and are likely to be recognized experts who will work best in a lightly loaded management environment. The good news, it will likely work equally well in either the academic or administrative environment.
Finally, one bit of advice that I often have to heed myself: management is never a first-person singular endeavor. Always talk about your team and be generous in attribution for success. If your team does well and is recognized for it, you are excelling at your job.
Hibel: Thanks for transitioning us. Team building is essential in an academic environment. What would you advise a department head or dean implement in order to have a strong team work ethic?
Reilly: Team building is one of those overused terms that will give some folks the heebie-jeebies. To build a cohesive team, there are some simple concepts we used in the space program. As mentioned previously, trust is vitally important. Once the team members feel trusted they will be proactive in reaching their goals. At this stage, they may not yet be a team so developing and articulating common goals is important. When defining these goals it’s always important ask the “So what?” to make sure they are indeed important to the department’s goals and the institution’s larger goals.
This is sort of the “up and out” piece of building the team. The “down and in” part is helping to put the team together where they will work together on the common goals they’ve set. An important aspect is the social piece. We found that even though we might be physically separated from parts of our team, if we had gotten to know them socially as well as professionally the team formed much quicker and better. These social experiences don’t have to be anything more complicated than having a happy-hour get-together occasionally or maybe a dinner event, but having that ability to get to know your team away from the workplace is important.
Hibel: Thinking back at the various interviews that you’ve experienced, what advice do you have for individuals who may be new to the higher education arena or are re-entering the workforce and need tips on successful interviewing?
Reilly: The best advice I ever received regarding interviewing I got from Kathy Sullivan, one of the first female astronauts and a fellow earth scientist. She told me this: just be yourself. Make sure you have good papers that describe what you’ve done but when you sit down with the folks who are evaluating you for their team, you are being considered for the “family” and you will come off much better if you are relaxed and being just who you are and not what you think others might be looking for. It must have worked!