FORK UNION , Va. — Rear Admiral J. Scott Burhoe arrived on the campus of Fork Union Military Academy in mid-July for his first day serving as president, and he hit the ground running. Literally.
Scott Burhoe
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In keeping with his normal practice, Admiral Burhoe was up and running at 6 a.m., traveling all over the campus of the Baptist-affiliated school as he put in five of the 20-plus miles he runs each week.
Once he cleaned up and arrived at the office in his crisp U. S. Coast Guard blues, he barely slowed down. His first day’s schedule was filled with individual one-on-one meetings with various department heads, but even on his very first day, he found himself handling the types of crises that will routinely interrupt his schedule in the days ahead: A cadet violating the Honor Code? Form the tribunal. A young man with a medical emergency? Contact the parents. Television news crews here to report on his arrival? Give them an interview and tour of the campus.
“I knew I was going to be going from fire to fire,” said Admiral Burhoe about his first day’s experience. He is used to dealing with the typical daily issues of a boarding school, having run one of the nation’s leading service academies for the past four years.
Admiral Burhoe was the head of the U. S. Coast Guard Academy from 2007 to 2011, helping transform that institution into the No. 1 college in the North region, according to rankings by U. S. News and World Report. For the past two years, The Chronicle of Higher Education has listed the Coast Guard Academy as one of the best colleges at which to work.
Admiral Burhoe is Fork Union’s 10th president, but he is the first to have significant experience as the head of a major college or university. Of the previous nine presidents, five were pastors or chaplains, two were military officers, and two came from secondary school administration or other educational backgrounds.
Dan Thompson is director of communications for Fork Union.