Testimonials

Graduate recounts personal, campus-wide growth through SWU

I was extremely busy with family life, a demanding job with long hours and military obligations that required my presence during many weekends. Most of the professors also worked in the “real world,” and that appealed to me. - Bob Rock

By Bob Rock, AGS alumnus

In 1992, I left active duty in the U.S. Navy, after serving almost 10 years in the Submarine Service.

As a former instructor in the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program, I soon found employment as an instructor at Westinghouse Savannah River Company at the Savannah River
Site (SRS) in Aiken.

What I really needed, if I was going to further my career at SRS, was some practical training and formal education in management skills. I heard about a new program called Leadership Education for Adult Professionals (LEAP) being offered by Southern Wesleyan University.

Here was a program designed for someone like me. I was extremely busy with family life, a demanding job with long hours and military obligations that required my presence during many weekends. Most of the professors also worked in the “real world,” and that appealed to me. As it turns out, I was able to complete my bachelor’s degree in management in three years, and graduated with honors in May of 1999.

When I started classes in 1996, we were meeting at North Augusta High School. The conditions weren’t the best in the world. But the professors were top notch, many of them traveling from Columbia and Central. Most importantly, the faculty had a vested interest in our individual and collective success.

We eventually moved to a suite of modern classrooms in the Business Technology Center in North Augusta. I’ve seen the LEAP program develop over the years into the exciting and fast-growing Adult and Graduate Studies (AGS) program that I’m proud to still be a part of. Soon after my graduation, I interviewed for and was awarded a management position at SRS. I would not have been eligible for that interview without my degree.

I have remained active with the Alumni Association and now serve on the board of directors. In 2001, I retired from the Navy Reserve and enrolled in North Augusta’s second masters in management cohort. The masters program has been everything I expected, and more, and I graduated with my masters in management degree.

There is no doubt in my mind that the education provided me by SWU has made me a more effective manager. In addition, I’ve been able to put what I’ve learned to work through my participation on several company committees aimed at improving manager training and performance.

I’ve had the opportunity to make frequent visits to the main campus in Central, and witness first-hand the growth achieved in large part because of the success of the AGS program. Two-thirds of the student body at SWU is now made up of AGS students, and that number will surely grow. I’m extremely proud to be a part of Southern Wesleyan University. There are exciting times ahead, and I look forward to being part of that excitement.