Street smarts put to use in new role of college professor

Each month "Transitions" profiles an individual who has made significant changes in his or her work life and highlights the techniques used to make the changes.

Tom Nolan, 50

Career transition: From police officer to college professor

What he used to do: Lieutenant in the Boston Police Department

What he does now: Associate professor in criminal justice at Boston University's Metropolitan College

Making the switch: Not every cop winds up as a college professor. But Tom Nolan, who spent 27 years on the Boston police force, was not just any cop.

Nolan's story starts in Dorchester, where he grew up in the '50s and '60s. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a bachelor's in psychology in 1977. Not that he had any doubt about what he wanted to do with his life.

"I knew going in that I wanted to be a Boston police officer," Nolan said, citing the vivid impression two officers made on him once when his Volkswagen bug was broken into. "Their minds were sharp, agile, and I thought to myself, 'I want to get in on this.' "

After passing required tests, Nolan enrolled in the Boston Police Academy in 1978. "It was a real immersion into the culture," he said, meeting every day for courses in criminal law, and instruction on resolving domestic violence issues, firearms, and pursuit driving.

He entered the department in May of that year, and was assigned as the third man in a squad car, riding in the back seat behind two seasoned officers. By the summer he was assigned to his own squad car, with his own partner, and sent to Charlestown.

Nolan remembered spending most of his time in the housing projects, "seeing things I'd never seen before," including open drug use, widespread violence, even people throwing a bicycle off the roof at them. "They hated the police," said Nolan.

Eventually Nolan's assignments included a stint as a patrol supervisor, a member of an antigang violence unit, and in the internal affairs department. By the mid-1990s, he was back in a station - District 4, the South End, Back Bay, and Fenway -where he held a variety of responsibilities, including shift commander.

Along the way he was promoted several times, ultimately to lieutenant in 1995.

Some other big changes took place in Nolan's life. He got married in 1982, had a daughter in 1986 and a son in 1988. He was divorced in 1995.

In 1988, Nolan was part of a group of officers that attended Boston University's School of Education, earning credits in the Institute for Drug Area Specialists program. He received a master's degree in human development in education. During this time, one of his professors suggested Nolan pursue a doctorate, and persisted when he at first demurred. "You're a good writer. You could do this," Nolan said the professor told him.

Nolan decided he "could not advance sufficiently through conventional means in the police department." So he applied for the doctoral program in developmental studies and counseling at BU, taking classes at night or when he could fit them in around work. He stuck at it for the next nine years. At one point, Nolan recalled, his mother asked him: "What's the payoff here, Tom?" His answer: "For some things the payoff is within yourself. Not everything translates into the coins of the realm."

But Nolan did finally earn a PhD in 2000. At graduation, the acting education dean told the graduates that, as educators, they had a responsibility to give back. Nolan took the advice to heart.

While working on his doctorate and holding down his shifts, Nolan decided to try his hand at teaching - at satellite campuses of Springfield College's School of Human Services. Students were often homeless or had had other difficult life experiences and were all trying to get back on life's ladder. His courses included "Ethics in the Law" and "Moral Complexities in the Workplace."

In the summer of 2004, Nolan thought hard about his next move. "Any career has a shelf life," he said. "You're not going to go on forever."

Searching the web, Nolan spotted an opening for a criminal law professor at BU. At the job interview, Nolan was expecting a one-on-one discussion, but was greeted by a huge panel of university dignitaries. Immediately after the interview they offered him the job.

Nolan then had a big decision to make.

If he left the force before age 55, he would forego half his pension. Knowing the salary in academia would also be roughly half what he had worked his way up to in 27 years with the police, Nolan talked it over with his wife.

"She said, 'What, are you kidding? You'll never get another opportunity like this in your life,'." he recalled her saying.

He made the decision to leave the force.

Nolan started full time as an associate professor in criminal justice in 2004 at BU's Metropolitan College, the university's continuing education division. He has a full course load of undergraduate and graduate courses, and teaches both traditional and online courses. He is also the faculty coordinator of the master's in criminal justice online program, which has more than 500 students and is growing.

"After 9/11, the market has been breaking open for federal law enforcement jobs," Nolan said. His online students are located all over the globe - Korea, Tanzania, Iraq, Afghanistan.

"Initially I was full of self-doubt and anxiety," he said. "Will I be seen as a real teacher, or a faker, a cop with a doctorate?"

Nolan said the teaching is going well, and he's thrilled to establish relationships with students. And the nature of the problems he faces in his new career is completely different, he said. "I went from 'Lieutenant, the prisoner in cell 6 has stopped breathing - I think he's dead,' to 'Professor, my paper will be late.'."

Do you have a career transition story you would be willing to share? If so, please let us know at transitions@bostonworks.com. Be sure to include your name, phone number, and e-mail address along with a brief description of your career change.