Civilian director accepted to Harvard

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Michael A. Ward
  • Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  Most people cannot wait to get out of school. Brian Lally cannot wait to start.

Of course, it helps if the school is Harvard University. It also helps if all expenses are paid.

Mr. Lally, executive director for the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency here, was recently selected to attend Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government through an Air Force development program for senior civilian managers. He will participate in a yearlong Master of Public Administration program beginning in the fall.

“I just went over the half-century mark. What better way to start the second half of my life than to go back to school, at probably the best school in the world,” Mr. Lally said.

Mr. Lally is a New England native who grew up just 20 miles from Cambridge, Mass., where Harvard is located.

“It was always a dream (of mine) to go there,” he said.

He first applied to the college after graduating from high school.

“I did really well on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. I scored in the 1300s,” he said. “But, they were looking for 1500s.”

Instead, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Lowell Technological Institute in Massachusetts.

Thirty two years after missing out on Harvard, Mr. Lally learned of the Air Force program. His application went through four Air Force review levels including a review by a general officers’ board and a senior executives’ board. A year later, he was chosen as the No. 1 candidate for the program.

While that was great news, he was still a long way from becoming a Harvard man. He still had to apply and be accepted by the university.

“I had to write an application package and five 800-word essays, provide references, résumés and transcripts -- all in all about 30 pages of information,” he said.

Following graduation from Harvard in the summer of 2006, Mr. Lally will compete for one of several top leadership positions in the Air Force.

“There is no end game for me after graduation,” he said. “I don’t have a job lined up, and I don’t know what’s going to happen career-wise. For now, my focus is on learning the most I can and doing my best in school.”

Mr. Lally and his wife, Judy, have packed up their belongings and will travel to Cambridge this summer. Because the course is a prelude to higher-level positions, Mr. Lally will not return to the agency.

“I will be heartbroken to leave here,” he said. “I absolutely love being here, and I know I’ll be sad when I leave.”

Mr. Lally also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is a registered professional civil engineer licensed in Virginia.

He has been affiliated with the Air Force since 1975, and is a colonel in the Air Force Reserves. He has more than 29 years experience working for the Air Force, Army Corps of Engineers and Navy Public Works Directorates as an engineer, commander, senior program manager, wartime planner, disaster response planner and contracting officer.