Victor Glover, Artemis II astronaut, joins Cal Poly in leadership role

From piloting NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon to retelling his tales to the world, California native and astronaut Victor Glover announced that he will be hanging up his boots after accepting a full-time administrative leadership position at his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

In this new role, Glover will focus on building the university's partnerships, philanthropy, and long-term strategies, hoping to elevate the Cal Poly and Cal Poly Maritime Academy campuses into global leaders "in polytechnic education, research innovation and workforce production."

"There are a lot of neat opportunities as we work to, you know, grow our science and industrial base, our partnerships with other universities, and our partnerships with corporate America," Glover said in an interview with USA TODAY.

"What's really cool is I get to do that for Cal Poly, and I'm also in this emeritus program, which allows people with unique experiences to continue to serve NASA in a different capacity."

Specifically, NASA allows individuals like Glover and Reid Wiseman, commander of the 2026 Artemis II lunar flyby mission, to step down from their roles with the agency while continuing to support the country's space program by training and mentoring the next generation of scientists.

“As I grow into this new role, NASA and spaceflight remain a meaningful part of my journey of service,” Glover told NASA in an interview about his new position. “I’m excited to keep uplifting my friends and cheering them on as they reach for the Moon. Together, we’ll keep pushing boundaries and inspiring the next giant leap.”

In this new role, Glover will be spending much of his time guiding the university's president, provost, college deans, and other university leaders to develop and expand the university’s leadership in engineering, applied computing, aerospace, aviation, maritime, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, and national defense.

However, between these meetings, Glover shared his desire to stand in front of an auditorium and teach the next generation by recounting his nearly 14 years as an active astronaut and 28-year career in the United States Navy.

Many may assume that Glover would want to focus his lessons on space and putting a person on the Moon; but he told USA TODAY that, "at the end of the day, I probably would love to teach a course on communication."

"That's something that I think young technical professionals need to really get as good at as the technical skills to be a tech leader, to be a science leader. And to be a public servant, I think communication is one of the most important roles that we get to serve in," Glover said.

He highlighted how his ability to communicate efficiently was a pivotal skill throughout his career, from his time in the military to NASA.

"In the early 2000s, when I was a test pilot, I was a project officer as well. So it wasn't just about flying test missions. I was part of a team with some really challenging goals that, you know, ended with making sure our service members stayed safe in combat and during training. And so we had to come together and tackle these really big problems," Glover said.

"I wasn't the most technical person on the team, but I really brought the teamwork and the leadership and the communication to the front and made sure that that was something that we were constantly thinking about."

Why did Glover choose to return to Cal Poly?

Although one might assume it would be a no-brainer to accept an administrative role at a top university, Glover shared how important his time at Cal Poly was to his life trajectory.

Not only did Glover receive the foundational education that would one day lead him to becoming a historic figure, but it's also where he met his wife, Dionna Odom Glover, of 30 years at Cal Poly.

"We spent a lot of time driving up and down the coast, tutoring for a program called MESA, Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement. And so we spent so much time together doing that job and also sitting in the university union there, right outside the Chumash Auditorium on campus. And we would just talk," Glover said.

At Cal Poly, Glover's career goal also changed drastically. Initially, he planned to pursue a career in "conceptual automotive design," but one of his college mentors, a Navy reservist, convinced Glover to enlist in the military.

With his father's support, Glover changed his military aspiration of becoming a Navy SEAL and traded it for a lifetime in the skies and in space.

"My dad said to me in 1997, with an engineering degree from Cal Poly and wings of gold, you never know, you might mess around and become an astronaut," Glover said.

"So the lesson is, listen to your parents, kids."

"But it was really my dad's suggestion. And I took a huge leap of faith there. And I took a leap of faith to apply to be an astronaut," he added.

Years later, on June 15, 2025, Glover returned to Cal Poly to accept an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the College of Engineering.

Through his life experience, Glover learned the value of one phrase, "we are a team," and hopes to teach students and leaders at Cal Poly the importance of that idea, and hopefully teach people around the world the importance of working together for a better tomorrow.

"You know, when you get to see your home from far away, you know, that saying, absence makes the heart grow fonder. It's so true. And that distance also can make the heart grow fonder. And so seeing our planet from the space station helped me appreciate how connected this system was, how we, you know, Earth is one system that works together," Glover said.

"It's truly a system. But then seeing it from the moon hanging there in the blackness of space with the Milky Way as the background just really hit home that we are on a spaceship and that we are in this really beautiful oasis on this crude ship that we call Earth, and that we're a crew, like the country, the planet, humanity."

USA TODAY video producer Kat Filardi contributed to this article.

Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at [email protected], follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.