Mr. Philip McNair - Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Phil McNair is a retired Army colonel with more than 26 years of active military service who currently serves as the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at AMU. He has been with AMU since his military retirement in 2002, and has previously served as the Vice President for Programs and Marketing, Student Retention, and Academic Services. He was one of the principle architects of AMU’s hugely successful military outreach program, and has been responsible for numerous key initiatives that contributed to the phenomenal growth and academic reputation of the institution.
During his military career Colonel McNair served in a variety of assignments in the United States and overseas, most notably as a company commander in the 25th Infantry Division (Light), assistant professor of military science at the University of Texas at El Paso, battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and executive officer to the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel in the Pentagon. His office in the Pentagon was hit directly by the airplane flown by terrorists on 9/11, and 24 of his colleagues were killed. He was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained during the attack, and the Soldier’s Medal for heroism as a result of his work to rescue others before his section of the building collapsed. At his retirement ceremony he was presented the Army’s highest decoration for military service, the Distinguished Service Medal. His actions during the 9/11 attack have been chronicled on the Discovery Channel and ABC News, in the Washington Post, and in the books “The Pentagon”, by Steve Vogel (Random House, 2007), and “Heroes of 9/11” by Allan Zullo (Scholastic Books, 2011).
McNair earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Louisiana State University, where he was the Cadet Corps Commander of the ROTC program during his senior year. He has a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and has done other graduate work at Central Michigan University and the University of Texas at El Paso. In 2008 he completed the prestigious Management and Leadership in Education program at Harvard University, and was awarded the Wagner Educational Leadership award by the Distance Learning Administration in 2009. He teaches courses in management and leadership at AMU, and is a regular presenter at distance education conferences. He also facilitates workshops on “Serving Military Students” and “PTSD and Stress in the Online Classroom” for the Sloan Consortium, and is a mentor in the consortium’s online teaching certification program. Phil is also a contributing writer for a major textbook company with a focus on helping military students be successful.