Brevard Sun

Gregg Buckingham ’02EdD, an associate lecturer in UCF’s School of Public Administration who worked for NASA for 28 years, shares insight from working for the space agency and the impact of teaching.

By Nicole Dudenhoefer ’17 | Podcast by UCF Social | December 19, 2022

Season three of Knights Do That, UCF’s official podcast, returns with its final episode with Gregg Buckingham ’02EdD, an associate lecturer in the School of Public Administration. Buckingham spent his professional career at NASA, working at both NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at the Kennedy Space Center before joining UCF.

Here Buckingham shares insight into his time working for NASA and how he makes an impact as an educator.

Transcript 

Gregg Buckingham: I remember talking to one guy who was a key Apollo person and I asked him something. Did they think they would succeed or why did they think they succeeded or something? And he said, “Well we were basically all young and we didn’t know we couldn’t do it, so we went out and did it.”

James Evans: Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Knights Do That. This is our final episode of season three. More importantly, this is the final episode of the podcast.

I’ll tell you all about it and what’s in store at the end of the show. For now, I’d like to turn your attention to our guest today. Dr. Gregg Buckingham is a professor who teaches public administration in the College of Community Innovation and Education.

Before joining UCF, Dr. Buckingham spent 28 years working for NASA, mostly at the Kennedy Space Center. His story and passion for mentoring the next generation of leaders will give you a new perspective on community.

Thanks for being here, Gregg. How are you?

Gregg Buckingham: Great. Great to be here.

James Evans: Fantastic. If you are fine with it, I think we’ll just jump into the questions.

Gregg Buckingham: Fire away.

James Evans: Sure. Awesome. So, the first thing I really want to cover, because I’m fascinated by it, is you are a first-generation student. You got involved with the Presidential Management Fellowship and then started working at NASA and specifically the Kennedy Space Center. And that’s a very like loose, broad timeline with much more nuance in between.

College, especially for first generation students, is all about discovery and growth. And this is where I want to start with you. What was your experience like going to the University of Florida being a first-generation student and what comes to mind when you reflect on that time of your life?

Gregg Buckingham: Yeah. Gosh. My sister got a bachelor’s degree and while she was away at college we moved to Florida a thousand miles away. So, I didn’t really have her to pull on as a mentor. For those young people listening, there were no cell phones. There was no internet and so I really went off to college. I could still picture my parents taking me up there unloading my stuff in the dorm, having lunch and then giving me a hug and driving away. And this of course for me was the first time I had lived away from home and I really didn’t know. And my parents were both high school graduates but not that’s what first generation means.

So, I can really remember, “Wow. What is this going to be like?” It was very exciting. Also, sometimes very confusing. I was a financial aid student. I had a whole financial aid package of a loan and a grant and work study, and so I had to figure all that out. I had never managed my own checking account or savings account and now I was doing that. And (I) never had put together a budget. And so all these things that you’re doing on your own take learning and they take time. I did a whole bunch of activities, and my scholarship was not as good as it should have been. But I was learning a whole lot. So, it is a time, you use the word “discovery.” It is a time of discovery. It is also a time where you have to learn to manage a lot of things and it really wasn’t until my junior and senior year that I had a handle on the process.

James Evans: There are a couple things I want to hit there. I think one of the first ones that comes to mind is you said you were super involved you were doing a lot of different things not just personal growth and discovery but also just like with the university, right? So, with that is there anything that stands out to mind now that you’re like, “Man. That one thing or those two clubs or whatever changed my life, or they set me down a path that I don’t think I would’ve gone down otherwise?”

Gregg Buckingham: I don’t know if it changed my life, but it made my college years worthwhile. I joined a service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and we did a ton of service projects for the university and for the larger Gainesville community. And from that I, of course, developed a network of friends. I also developed a feeling a good feeling about community service and the things we did. As I look at my bachelor’s years that activity made those years worthwhile.

James Evans: What are you seeing or noticing as an educator that — besides the fact that these things now exist and we’re more interconnected in my generation — what are you noticing as far as the effects the human effects and the human impacts on how we’re changing education or how our educational situation is different than yours?

Gregg Buckingham: Yeah, that’s a great question, too. I’m 66. The listeners can’t tell that but I’m 66 and I often am concerned about how does a 66-year-old relate to an 18, 19, 20-year-old in the classroom? I’ve done some reading about millennials and the iGeneration following them. And what I learned about the iGeneration in particular who are the main students that I have right now as a generation they spent more time at home less where their parents dropped them off at let’s say Waterford Lakes Mall or a mall.

Original source can be found here.