As a high school student in the 1970s, Kent Myers, SIS/BA ’74, had already set his sights on Washington, DC. A self-described “homebody,” Myers figured that if he was going to live and work in DC after college, he might as well attend school in the city.

With this in mind, Myers enrolled at American University’s School of International Service, where he hoped to build on his interest in international relations and forge a path to make DC his permanent residence. At SIS, he not only found an intellectual home, but a place to start laying down roots postgraduation.

“[DC] has been my headquarters ever since,” Myers said in a recent interview.

Myers will be among the American University class of 1974 members during this year’s Golden Eagle Reunion—an annual celebration honoring alumni who graduated 50 years prior.

In the 50 years since graduating from SIS, Myers went on to earn a PhD and forged a successful career as a consultant. We recently sat down with Myers to learn about his experience at SIS and hear how he’s navigated a decades-long career in Washington, DC.

SIS Journey

SIS gave Myers the opportunity to be an independent scholar, which was something he’d been craving as a high school student in Connecticut.

“That’s what I really liked about college—I could really step out and do something creative and something more advanced,” Myers said.

Myers recalled taking undergraduate classes from SIS professor Abdul Aziz Said, founder of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution master’s program at SIS. Myers remembers his first assignment in Said’s class was to interview someone off-campus working in the international relations field. The assignment provided Myers an opportunity to speak with a Japanese expert at the US Department of State, allowing him to gain knowledge and experience in an area of chosen interest.

Regarding that class, Myers said: “Professor Said wasn't so intent about us mastering what he was saying or reading certain books; he wanted us to be independent scholars.”

As a young international relations student, Myers also had the itch to study abroad during college.

“I figured if I’m taking a degree in international relations, I better have some international experience,” Myers said.

Spurred by his interest in Japanese history and politics, Myers spent his junior year at the International Christian University in Tokyo. During his year abroad, he lived with a local couple, which provided a chance to apply his Japanese language skills and learn more about the culture.

Finding a Career Path

After graduating from SIS, Myers was unsure of what he wanted to pursue for a career. He spent a short time working on international publications before attending the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania for a PhD in Social Systems Sciences.

After graduating from Wharton in 1983, Myers spent a semester teaching at George Mason University before getting involved with an engineering start-up that focused on mobile robotics.

It wasn’t until a few years later when Myers would step into a role as a consultant that he would find his “forever” career. Building on the skills he attained through his PhD experience and the engineering start-up, Myers was offered an Army contract, where he worked as a human factors engineer to help improve new weapons systems.

Becoming a consultant and contractor allowed Myers to engage in creative, critical thinking and apply his PhD training in systems thinking. The ability to participate in creative problem-solving and to think analytically had him hooked and has kept him on this career path for more than two decades.

“I never became a direct government employee, but contractors are all over the place. That's half the employment throughout the security community, and so I was able to parlay one thing after another,” Myers explained. “My graduate degree was really about social technical design or designing business processes. So, when business process engineering took off, I said, ‘Well, that's exactly what I know how to do, and I can actually do it better than what they wanted.’ That kept me going [in the profession] for years.”

Myers would once again make a career move in the consulting world when he obtained a security clearance, which provided a path to intelligence work with various agencies and organizations, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Currently, Kent is a consultant with Accenture Federal Services.

Asked what kept him in consulting and contract work for decades, Myers said it was the ability to keep learning and “get his hands on the work.”

“Unlike some direct government positions, you do get to move around a lot, and typically, when a contract is led, they want to create something new. So, I was like, ‘This is wonderful.’ To some, it seems like it's a real burden because every couple of years you have to completely learn some other system and a whole new set of terminology and problems and so forth, and then do something to change management and so forth. But for me, that’s the interesting part of doing government work.”

Advice for SIS Students

For students considering a career in government, Myers advises to not “overlook being a contractor.” Myers said throughout his career, he’s found there are many avenues to get involved in government work, including in the intelligence field.

One of his biggest pieces of advice for SIS students is to make sure you are getting the certifications that employers are seeking, while also recognizing that “you are probably going to be continually thrust into situations for which you are not prepared.”

“Your best bet is to learn how to learn, and to do it quickly,” Myers said. “With every new position, people are going to doubt you. Show them that, after all, you are pretty clever and a delight to have around.”