Student Veterans of America Names Jeff Westling as Leadership Fellow
Jeff Westling, MAOL ‘00, DSL ‘25
Retired U.S. Coast Guard captain and adjunct professor Jeff Westling was selected as a Leadership Fellow in the Student Veterans of America (SVA)’s Class of 2024 in October of last year, representing the USCG and Regent University. He is the first leadership fellow to be selected from Regent.
The SVA is a national organization that aims to advocate for veterans, active duty and reserve military members, and military-affiliated students, such as dependents, connecting them so they can be more successful in their academic pursuits. The members of the SVA include everyone from part-time students working toward a technical certification to those pursuing doctoral studies.
“The SVA invites veterans to apply to become a fellow, and it’s a very selective process,” Westling stated.
He was one of about 75 selected among thousands of applicants.
“I wasn’t sure whether to apply at first, but my past mentors encouraged me to follow through with the application process,” he recalled. Earning leadership fellow status was gratifying for Westling, who will graduate with his doctorate in strategic leadership in May.
“It’s been a long-term relationship with the university. I graduated as one of the earliest cohorts in the Master of Organizational Leadership (MAOL). I have loved the focus on developing yourself as a believer in Christ, the emphasis on a Christian worldview, and the biblical basis for leadership development,” he stated.
By earning his MAOL, Westling was able to step into more leadership roles in the Coast Guard, opening up opportunities to instruct others. He eventually earned a second master’s at the Naval Postgraduate School. He didn’t stop there, though, returning to Regent in pursuit of a doctorate.
“It had always been on my heart to pursue a doctorate, and Regent was never out of the question. I was always looking to return to Regent,” he stated.
Westling leverages his more than three decades of experience in homeland security, logistics, engineering, planning, and management, among other fields, to teach the disaster and crisis consequence management course in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program in Regent’s Robertson School of Government.
“It doesn’t matter what discipline or profession you’re in; crises happen. Whether it’s in our profession or our own community, there is a ton of relevant material in the course,” he said.
Through the completion of his doctoral project, he hopes to leverage what he learned throughout his military career, in the DSL program, and in the five years he served at Operation Blessing at the Christian Broadcasting Network to expand the course into a new, three-credit hour, eight-week concentration with a focus on emergency management and crisis and disaster response, including a crisis leadership and ethics course.
As a leadership fellow, Westling views servant leadership as a mindset with an emphasis on integrative leadership.
“Servant leadership is a mindset that impacts the heart connection to people. It’s a mindset upon which everything else is built. It underpins your leadership; as a leader, you try to help set up your followers for success in the best way possible.”
“Servant leadership works best on an interpersonal relational model; in the course of an immediate disaster, for example, there is a lot of transactional leadership until you get to the point of having those close relationships with people once again, and with your team, you’re fully in the servant leadership mindset. The closer you work with individuals, the more practical servant leadership becomes,” he stated, recalling how Jesus used different leadership approaches depending on who He was leading and was a model of not only servant leadership but also integrative leadership.
Westling appreciates Regent’s faculty for helping him get to where he is today.
“I credit a lot of my intellectual curiosity back to Dr. Bruce Winston,” he stated. “He customized my classes for my needs, as well as those of then-president retired Lt. Gen. Paul Cerjan and retired Col. John Mayer. The three of them helped customize the curriculum to really make it relevant to the public sector military-government domain.”
He continued, stating:
“In my doctoral studies, I’ve had some incredible professors. I can’t think of one who hasn’t challenged me to think differently, to think more broadly than what my career and professional experience have been. A couple of the professors have really encouraged professional academic discourse, and I thrive on that discourse. There are flaws in every assumption, so it’s important to challenge each other’s assumptions.”
For Westling, the doctoral program at Regent gives students the chance to transform themselves in pursuit of their purpose.
“It’s not a simple polishing of an already sharpened blade; if you have a very sharp edge on an iron blade, you have to put the steel through a refiner’s fire to get rid of the impurities before you have something to work with; as you further develop that blade, there’s a lot of forging that takes place to get that pure metal to take shape. As you continue that process, you have to grind the blade. It causes a lot of friction and sparks. But the sharper it becomes, it will eventually become a truly polished blade. There can be a lot of deep cutting and hammering that, if done properly, will shape you that refined instrument to really cut into the heart for the purpose of Christ; that’s what it’s all about,” Westling explained.
When asked what advice he would give other esteemed professionals considering their doctorate, he stated:
“Understand your why before you launch into the commitment; it’s an investment. Know why it’s going to become worth the time, money, and effort that goes into the pursuit. If your purpose is to leverage what you’ve learned through the process, run and don’t stop. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve always enjoyed teaching and sharing my background to help others be more successful than I could ever imagine for myself. To have that impact and be put in a position of influence, a terminal degree is a necessity.”
About Regent University’s Resources for Veterans
Regent is proud to be one of the leading military and veteran-friendly colleges in the country. We have continually earned national top-tier rankings by Military Friendly® Schools, ranking as the #2 Best Military Friendly® School for the 2024-25 year.
For more information on the programs and services available to veterans, active-duty service members, and their families at Regent University, visit the Military Resource Center and our financial aid page.