Photo Courtesy of Rylee Johnston

On a constant quest to learn, Meenekshi Bose, a professor and executive dean of public policy and public service programs, has had the rare opportunity of living through major moments in history throughout both her studies as an undergraduate and her teaching as a professor at Hofstra University and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Bose was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but her parents came to the United States from India, where her father had attended graduate school. He began teaching electrical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, then moved on to teach at Pennsylvania State University, where Bose began her studies in international relations.

“My senior year, which was the year the Berlin Wall came down, was a period of major change in international politics, going from my first year of college where there were a lot of social movements from universities to divest from South Africa because of the Apartheid regime, and really a lot of questions about what the United States was doing in the Cold War,” Bose said. “By the spring of 1990, we had seen four summit meetings between the United States and the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, [the] freeing of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the fall of the Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe, and so it was really an exciting period of global change.”

Wanting to express this interest, Bose used writing as an outlet. She got involved with journalism, first through writing for her high school newspaper as a features writer and then in college for The Daily Collegiate at Penn State, where she was editor for the opinions page.

The newspaper allowed her to continue asking questions about the political realm while exploring what she could do after college.

“I was always interested in both politics and government, and then writing about politics and government. I kind of knew in high school, going into college, that I wanted to do some form of research and writing, whether that would be in the world of journalism or in some form of think-tank analysis.”

Bose graduated from Penn State and further pursued her academic interests at Princeton University. It was there that she discovered her passion for academia.

Finding her time at graduate school both rewarding and intellectually challenging, Bose pursued a career in teaching and came to Hofstra University in 1996, where she started as an assistant professor in the department of political science. It was at this time that Hofstra was hosting its conference on George H.W. Bush’s presidency. It combined her interests in the U.S. presidency with foreign policy, while bringing together academics and administrative officials, such as former first lady Barbara Bush and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

While it was an exciting time to be at Hofstra, Bose looked to further challenge herself, and when an opportunity came up in the late ‘90s to teach in the social sciences department at West Point, she took it.

Working at a military academy provided a different learning environment that was unlike the traditional college experience. “It was very exciting because I was working with students who were going to be officers when they came out,” Bose said.

Most cadets had a strong interest in policy and the decision-making process because it would have a direct effect on them once they graduated.

“The academic schedule is very different there,” Bose said. “You don’t have Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday classes; classes meet every other day. The academic schedule really centers around what works for cadets. It’s not a traditional academic schedule. It’s very invigorating and all-consuming.”

With outside guests ranging from White House officials to officials from the Pentagon, class days were subject to change as potential guest speakers arrived at a moment’s notice. 

Bose’s time at West Point eventually came to an end when she brought some cadets to Hofstra’s conference on Clinton. There, she heard about how the political science department was creating a new focus on the American presidency. Having a love and niche for the subject, Bose took a chance and applied for a position.

Now back at Hofstra, Bose continues researching and asking questions as she shares her love for political science with students.

When Bose is not teaching, she is helping to prepare for the Obama presidency conference in 2021. In the future, she hopes to publish either an article or book focusing on Obama. “I’m very interested in writing about Obama myself, so I’ll kind of start with an article and see where it goes from there,” Bose said.

“Really, teaching at a university means that you are in school forever,” Bose said. “And school can be a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.”