{"253601":{"#nid":"253601","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Vet Talks About Making Transition to Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking the shift from working for the Army to the civilian workforce can be a bit of a culture shock. Just ask Ron Johnson.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJohnson served for 32 years in the U.S. Army where he held the title of deputy commanding general and deputy chief of engineers. Before arriving at Georgia Tech, he served as the National Basketball Association\u2019s senior vice president of Referee Operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Army trains leaders very well. You don\u2019t have an environment of micromanaging,\u201d said Johnson, professor of the practice in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and managing director of the Tennenbaum Institute. \u201cTransitioning to the NBA for my second career, the adaptation there was having the responsibility but not the authority. Then, coming here, I\u2019m still adapting to the new culture of the academic world because I\u2019ve only been here about nine months.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe added that adjusting to the slow pace at which academia moves has been a challenge. \u201cI understand that\u2019s how the process works [referring to getting papers published], but it takes some getting used to,\u201d he added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead on to learn more about Johnson.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you end up at Tech?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn 2008, I had my retirement ceremony, and I had no idea what I\u2019d do next. I said in my retirement speech that my third career would be teaching leadership and math at a university. I did not think it would be at Georgia Tech, though. I thought about trying to teach at Morgan State because I know the Dean of Engineering there. But Georgia Tech kept poking me. I got my master\u2019s here. I\u2019m a member of the Foundation, I\u2019m a trustee. Tech wrapped its arms around me, and when I was asked to come, I couldn\u2019t say no.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat challenges do veterans face coming here, whether as students or staff?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI think employees adjust a little bit better. The students who are vets come with very high standards and expectations \u2014 not to say other students don\u2019t come with them \u2014 but these young men and women come with extraordinary expectations of themselves. And when the results aren\u2019t the way they would like for them to be, you just don\u2019t know where it might take them. Many of them are combat veterans; many of them may come with some baggage associated with serving in such an environment. So, we just want to make sure we are around aware, because their tendency is to cope by themselves. We as a campus community want to give them tools to cope properly.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you like about Tech?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI love teaching. I love the students \u2014 I love to see them grow. I love running into them after I have taught them because that\u2019s when they are more genuine. When you\u2019re their professor, the relationship is different. My job is not to just have them understand probability and statistics but to make them better people. I am pretty serious about that. I love that aspect of it. I love the work environment, too. People get along, people collaborate, and people don\u2019t micromanage you.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us about the new Employee Resource Group for veterans you\u2019re involved with.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EWe are going to be working closely with other affinity-type groups on campus: the Student Veterans Association, the Georgia Tech Military Affinity Group, and Veterans on Campus. We are going to cooperate. We are not there to replace supervisors and management; we are there to facilitate people getting things done and to help them in their own careers. We hope to do an event each month \u2014 we\u2019ll get together and talk about how things are going and will empower people and encourage them. I\u2019m excited about it. (For more, click \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ohr.gatech.edu\/erg\/voc\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFor the Q\u0026amp;A in its entirety, click \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/c.gatech.edu\/16H25oE\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking the shift from working for the Army to the civilian workforce can be a bit of a culture shock. Just ask Ron Johnson.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Making the shift from working for the Army to the civilian workforce can be a bit of a culture shock. Just ask Ron Johnson."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2013-11-11 16:13:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:18","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"253631":{"id":"253631","type":"image","title":"Ron Johnson","body":null,"created":"1449243828","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:48","changed":"1475894934","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:54","alt":"Ron Johnson","file":{"fid":"198158","name":"ron_johnson_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ron_johnson_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ron_johnson_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6889998,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ron_johnson_0_0.jpg?itok=Op8VC4-I"}}},"media_ids":["253631"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ohr.gatech.edu\/erg\/voc","title":"Veterans on Campus Website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"75391","name":"Employee Resource Groups"},{"id":"1202","name":"H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"1615","name":"ron johnson"},{"id":"1727","name":"tennenbaum institute"},{"id":"10681","name":"veterans"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ben.wright@coe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBen Wright\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}