Rob Guerin balances active military duty, family time while earning second online master’s degree

Rob Guerin had spent the majority of his 18 years in the United States Coast Guard leading performance-based operational tours.

Since graduating from Boise State University’s online Master of Science in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning (OPWL) in August 2024, he has found dry land and a promotion to Master Chief.

“This was a huge career change for me,” he said. “Everything before had been on boats and ships, so this was my first opportunity to do a hard pivot within the Coast Guard.

“I’m not getting any younger, so the chance to come in off the water and contribute on a new professional level is something we all look forward to. Now, I’m home with my family every night.”

Guerin, a learning and development specialist based in Norfolk, Virginia, also graduated with a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University in 2022. He and his wife, Autumn, have two children — Jack (12) and Lottie (10).

“The Coast Guard thought it was great that I got an MBA, but it wasn’t going to give me anything new to do,” he said. “Boise State’s OPWL program was a great companion graduate degree to an MBA.

“On one side, you’re looking at numbers and management. On the other side are the human problems, the hard problems. If you can combine those two things, it’s chocolate and peanut butter.”

The online format’s flexibility was convenient, and gave Guerin applicable skills to his current role, which requires just three days per week in an office.

“You have to learn to collaborate and still be effective with the online approach in the OPWL program,” he said. “That translated very nicely into real-world applications.

“So many things that we did, like team charters, were project management. You realize when you step into the real world that these things apply. It was a secondary effect of what worked well in that setting.”

Getting his sea legs

Guerin is from Springfield, Missouri, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the College of the Ozarks in 2004.

“After my undergrad, I was in law school,” he said. “I had to withdraw because I didn’t have the money to pay for it.

“I initially joined the Coast Guard to get my GI Bill, but I quickly grew fond of what the Coast Guard did and the opportunities it provided. It’s been exceptional. I am incredibly grateful for those opportunities.”

Guerin had no plans to return to higher education after earning an MBA, but the Coast Guard selected him to earn an OPWL degree as an enlisted member.

“I wanted to get a little more strategic instead of being at the tactical level,” he said. “I wanted to get into the weeds a little bit and affect more than just the folks who work for me.

“When this came along, I placed several phone calls and said, ‘I’m not a trainer. I’m not an instructor. I’m not an instructional designer. My background is all about performance.’ They said, ‘Please apply for it. We need somebody from the real world in this role.’”

With five universities to choose from, Guerin said Boise State was the obvious choice for what he hoped to accomplish.

“Boise State had a real focus on performance outcomes,” he said. “It’s solution-driven. A lot of the other programs are educational-minded. I was thinking about being in the classroom and instructional materials, which drew me there.

“The curriculum at Boise State, coming from an MBA and operator background, was all about results; it doesn’t always have to be training or performance interventions. I keyed in on that pretty quickly. I liked that it was out of the engineering school, so it was pushing it systematically.”

Needs Assessment and Evaluations were the two courses in the OPWL curriculum that piqued Guerin’s interest the most.

“Instead of looking at instructional systems, I looked at program improvement processes and used those as my evaluation basis for projects,” he said.

“Both professors were willing to give me some academic room to maneuver and figure some of this information out in a way that I knew I could take with me when I left. It applied to my work, which was really nice because in my role now, I’m looking at outcomes for performance. That was really helpful.”

On an even keel

While he embraces his new role, Guerin has an eye on the future. He is three years away from retirement, but he is thriving on expanding and sharing his knowledge.

“Because of this program, there are jobs that will be available now that weren’t before,” he said. “People ask me why I joined the Coast Guard. It was really for the opportunity.

“That’s been the mantra my whole career. Where’s the opportunity to grow personally and professionally? Where’s the opportunity to contribute and bring others along with me? That’s the question I’m trying to answer on this next tour.”

Guerin was ranked No. 1 for advancement to Master Chief, the highest enlisted rank at E-9, by an advancement panel. He earned his latest promotion Jan. 1.

“One of the main reasons I was selected so high for promotion was the fact that as an enlisted person, you don’t see a lot of us with graduate degrees,” he said. “Knowing my new role was going to be enterprise was also one of the driving factors.”

With another master’s degree under his belt, Guerin believes it’s important to approach earning an OPWL from Boise State with an open mind.

“Within the program, look for opportunities to do new and uncomfortable things,” he said. “I would intentionally involve myself in projects that were outside my wheelhouse.

“Everybody is going to bring a little bit of familiarity with the concepts, but look for those areas you are unfamiliar with, and lean into them knowing that no matter how uncomfortable they are, the faculty is great and will be there to support you through phone calls and emails.

“The other students in the program are equally — if not more — supportive. You develop a community pretty quickly. In my first class, it felt intimidating to see everybody talking, and they knew each other. I felt that way myself after one semester. Even though it’s online, you form relationships. You are going to have growth.”

Learn more about the Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning program

Earning an online Master of Science in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning from Boise State University can open doors to new opportunities and a brighter future — and we’re here to support you every step of the way. Whether you’re exploring if an online degree is right for you or need help transferring credits, connecting with a student success coach is the perfect first step.

Ready to learn more? Attend one of our online information sessions or contact a student success coach today.