McKean takes helm as vice president of student affairs

NORWICH GUIDON: When did you first hear of Norwich and what did you hear?

MCKEAN: I heard of Norwich when I was back at Texas A&M. Norwich has a great history in the military. The officers I have met who have been Norwich graduates have all been very, very good officers. In every walk of life, be it corporate America, a household, church or in the military, you have a few people who aren't so great. I cannot put my finger on any time where I've met a Norwich graduate who was not just a very, very good officer. So I've heard of Norwich my whole life.

NORWICH GUIDON: Why Norwich?

MCKEAN: I had a successful military career. I had a short and successful civilian career. One of the reasons I enjoyed the military so much is that I have always enjoyed young people. I get a kick out of it. I'm good at it. This was just a great opportunity to come and do what I truly enjoy doing and that is being able to influence young people and being able to help them start their life and be successful with their lives. It's a passion. My ultimate goal is to help them gain success in their chosen field.

NORWICH GUIDON: What have you learned about Norwich since coming here?

MCKEAN: What I've learned here from walking around talking in everybody's office from the faculty to the administration to the custodial service to the community and several students who have been in and out of my office and I've met on the campus is that the university has a great ethos, a great ethic, a great set of values. There is a huge supportive environment here to make young people successful. I believe it in my heart; I think it's wonderful.

NORWICH GUIDON: How long do you plan to stay?

MCKEAN: Good question. That's up to the president. I'm here for the long term, as long as I can contribute. I'm a fellow who, if I can't contribute, or if I see that my contribution is no longer valid, if I find myself becoming stagnant, then it's time to go. I haven't seen that in myself for several years, so I don't anticipate that being anytime soon.

NORWICH GUIDON: What if the environment becomes one in which it becomes very difficult for you to effect the changes you would like?

MCKEAN: That just makes a bigger challenge. Some of that may exist. There may be some places where we aren't going to go there right yet, but it doesn't mean we won't go there. Change is all about moving forward. When people sit back and pat themselves on the back and say, 'Well, we've been successful with how successful we've been,' I call that complacency. Complacency is a nemesis of forward success and change.

NORWICH GUIDON: Have you found the environment at Norwich supportive of change?

MCKEAN: The president, and from what I understand the trustees and certainly the Norwich alumni, clearly want to move forward. They clearly want this university to grow. They're committed, and that's all you need to continue to move forward.

NORWICH GUIDON: Do you think the fact that you are not a Norwich graduate will create a challenge with some people?

MCKEAN: I don't think so. I think people are going to understand me real quick. I'm not here to make grandiose changes. I believe in the ethos and traditions of this great university. Being a graduate doesn't make you any better of a supporter of an organization or to understand it any better. Matter of fact, being a graduate may be an inhibitor that I would come with some preconceived notions. I think people are going to find out real quick who I am and what I am about, so I don't see not being a graduate as a viable criticism.

NORWICH GUIDON: What do you think is the biggest challenge you face coming here?

MCKEAN: One of the challenges: I'm sure some are going to say, 'the university is changing, and it's not changing for the good.' Some are going to say that the university is changing, and it's going to kill the ethos and the tradition, also kill the corps. Some are going to come in and say, 'He's an Army colonel, raised in Army traditions, and he's going to be against the civilians.' I tell you all that is false. The challenges are going to be overcome, those preconceptions, and to find that special blend that allows the entire student body to be one yet the healthy environment of in fact having a diverse community.

I think the biggest thing we have going for us is that we have athletes, we have civilians, and we have a corps of cadets. That eclectic, diverse student body is a huge leadership laboratory that has the opportunity to produce some of the greatest leaders in our nation, because you are coming out of a microcosm of America that we've created, right here, at Norwich.

NORWICH GUIDON: Is that what you appreciate most about Norwich?

MCKEAN: It's exciting. It's going to be a big challenge to find that right balance. I want healthy competition. Everyone likes healthy competition. Certainly, I will not condone unhealthy behavior, inappropriate behavior. I will not condone hazing. I will not condone sexual harassment. I will not condone any type of racism. I'm not accusing that we have any of that at all. As a matter of fact, I think we are in pretty good shape. It is the eclectic, diverse community that makes it fun, and the challenge is what can be done to make sure we understand that and not try to live in our little stovepipe, our own little lifestyle, without being accepting of the rest of the lifestyles.

NORWICH GUIDON: What's your primary goal as the VP for student affairs?

MCKEAN: My goals are simple. My goal is to make every young person who comes here successful. What we have at Norwich is a four-year development program; in some cases, four-and-a-half or five years. It's a developmental program to take a young person who selected whatever way of life they selected and we want to make them successful in that selection. I want to support the president's vision of growing the university.

The university is founded on our military traditions. All the customs and courtesy and traditions and ethos are built on our founding fathers. We are going to carry that further as we go into the future. I want to increase our retention levels. I want to increase our graduation rates. I will do everything in my power to ensure we create the conditions so we can increase academic excellence in terms of overall all grade point average of each young person that graduates.

What specifically are you going to do to increase academic excellence?

I have some ideas I'm still working on the corps side with the corps chain of command. We've already established quiet hours throughout the university from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. We have put in place mandatory study hall conditions for students who are academically struggling throughout the student body. That just ensures they have the right environment to be successful.

What they do with that time is certainly up to them, but that's an individual choice, but we're creating the conditions for academic excellence. I've given latitude for both the corps chain of command, they can expand that, and so can the civilian chain of command. The C-O-R-E quiet time at this university is from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. You can expand it on either side all you want, but you may not go into those hours. All that is, is just creating conditions.

I'm going to ensure that academic excellence is the priority of everybody at the university. That's the president's vision. I'm going to enforce that. When we find people that are in conflict with that, we'll take whatever action is appropriate to make sure we understand what the priority is.

NORWICH GUIDON: Do you have a challenge for the student body?

MCKEAN: My challenge to the student body is to be inclusive. Include one another. Don't be exclusive. Every student who graduates here has two things in common: they have a Norwich ring and they are alumni. Don't have self-imposed prejudices because of lifestyle choices.

NORWICH GUIDON: Your bachelor's degree is in industrial engineering, but your master's degree is in counseling education. What advantage does that kind of diversity offer you?

MCKEAN: Well, I'm also an infantry officer; I've been taught to kill people. So if we add it all up, it's a pretty diverse background. Actually, I had a very poor undergraduate experience. There's not a reason for it. It's inexcusable. Although I had a wonderful experience at Texas A&M, my educational experience I didn't take advantage of. I did not take advantage of it. That was a choice. The wrong choice, but a choice.

I was able to survive that, because I had some leadership skills that made me do good, allowed me to do good in the Army. I looked around, and I saw my peers and my superiors who were much better educated than I. I was weak academically, so I went back to school to get my master's.

I had to get my master's at night, because my undergraduate GPA was about a 2.01, and the Army wouldn't send me to get my master's degree. I had to do it myself at night, because what I wanted to do was fertilize my brain to get me to understand education. I took counseling, because the one thing I do is lead people.

When you lead people, you counsel people daily. It's a skill set that's directly attributable to most walks of life and I am a very avid, passionate person about education. It all goes back to my father, who was a mustang officer; he had a battlefield commission and only a high school education. My father's one requirement on both his sons was, he didn't care what we did, but we would get an education. So in the McKean family, we've grown to understand the importance of education personally, professionally, and as a responsibility and commitment to our country.

NORWICH GUIDON: Was your brother also in the Army?

MCKEAN: All McKeans were in the Army. All McKeans were infantry. All McKeans were paratroopers.

NORWICH GUIDON: What do you eat for breakfast?

MCKEAN: I don't eat breakfast. Keeps me mean.

NORWICH GUIDON: What kind of dog do you have?

MCKEAN: I've got a Lab. You all will see her. I live too close. She'll probably be all over the campus.

NORWICH GUIDON: What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

MCKEAN: That's very good. I couldn't tell you what the best advice was because I've had a lot of good advice. I've had an awful lot of good advice. I know that what I do. A lot of people look at your seniors, your leaders, your mentors, who you respect and say that you've got to be like them. I have never been that way.

I've grabbed attributes of people that I admire and respect. Things I've never forgotten in my life. I don't forget the bad things that have happened to me in my life. When I've been treated badly or when I've been a victim of bad leadership style, I've registered that.

So I hope that I would never do that to other people. That's not any advice people gave me. It's just life experience. Too often, we seem to want to forget those bad things. I remember them, so I don't treat others like that. Am I 100 percent successful? No, but it certainly helps.

NORWICH GUIDON: What's the best advice you can give to students with so many changes going on in the school?

MCKEAN: My only advice is be positive. I call it being a 'forer' not an 'againster.' Be for things; be upbeat; be positive. Go into each day to grow. Don't become stagnant, yourself. The few of you students I've met I'm very impressed with. If the student body is reflective of the students I've met, this place can grow significantly, and we can continue to attract other great young people, and that's the key: replace yourself with people like you.

NORWICH GUIDON: What's one thing you hope to gain from your experience at Norwich?

MCKEAN: Oh, there's never one thing. I learn and grow every day. Some people my age will always tell you, 'I'm too old to learn anything. I'm not going to change.' Matter of fact, I've had someone tell me that here. If anybody who is unwilling to change and grow each and every day, then it's time for them to move on and just go find that spot where they cannot grow; --it's called the grave. I'm going to learn from you all, and hopefully I can pass stuff off to you. So, there's not any one thing that I hope to gain, other than a richer life everyday.