Mike Ugenyi (M.A. ’24) saw life differently after his best friend, a veteran, committed suicide in 2019. The cataclysmic tragedy — still top-of-mind for Ugenyi and his friends five years later — is the most impactful and defining event of the TC alum’s ten years of military service.
“I began to live my life in a very different way,” explains Ugenyi, now a Tactical Officer at his alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy and a recent graduate of Teachers College’s Eisenhower Leader Development Program, a partnership between TC’s Social-Organizational Psychology program and the United States Military Academy at West Point. “I started focusing on individuals’ mental health and how their emotions are affecting them, because life became much more than the military...I’m focusing more on the people in this business, rather than on the business itself.”
Ugenyi’s focus couldn’t be more relevant, given the critical role of mental health care in helping veterans transition back to civilian life, an effort also supported by TC’s Resilience Center for Veterans & Families.
For Ugenyi, his mindful leadership comes into play now at his alma mater, where he is annually training 130 cadets for the rigorous challenges that come with military service.
“I’m getting them prepared for what could potentially happen in their entire lives and at work,” says Ugenyi. “One of the big things I stress to the cadets is that their profession is a part of their holistic life and balancing how much space the profession takes in said life is crucial. Both on and off duty.”
Ugenyi sees emotional intelligence as essential in his reports’ future success from both an organizational psych perspective and on an individual level.
“Mental health is extremely important for service members of every generation, but especially this generation coming up now,” says Ugenyi, who was one of 21 officers to graduate from TC’s ELDP program last spring. “Fully taking control of one's emotional intelligence — including self awareness and self regulation — will become more and more of a core focus moving forward.”
This perspective is just part of the TC program’s expansive approach. The Eisenhower Leader Development Program, now in its 20th year at the College, immerses service members in rigorous preparation related to leadership, coaching, group dynamics, organization change, adult learning and more.
“I’m delighted to hear that [the emotional intelligence class] resonated for Mike. Different parts of the program resonate with different people,” explains Gina Buontempo, the program director and a Senior Lecturer at the College. “And I think that reflects how we got it right...We think all these components are important, and the core topics in our curriculum will be seen and used by people differently throughout their careers.”
Insights from faculty like Buontempo, Bruce Alan Echtenkamp, Jackie Jenkins and Terrence Earl Maltbia are applied daily in Ugenyi’s work. While his West Point education was more tactical, students often come to him with questions that don’t always have a clear answer — and that’s where his TC preparation comes in.
“I’m using a lot of those coaching theories and tactics to walk [my cadets] through it,” explains Ugenyi, who returned to West Point after eight years stationed in various army bases across the U.S. “Before TC, I was used to mentoring people and handing them an answer. West Point is so rigorous that [cadets] often come to me about the one piece of their career that they can tailor themselves. So now, I try to let them take the driver’s seat and help in that way.”
Coaching — a core component of TC’s larger Social-Organizational Psychology program — is essential to how Ugenyi sees his calling in the military: taking care of fellow service members. “I will give them everything I have. I love the job, and that’s why I am still here. But I love the people more.”
The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.