| What makes some people love being where they are | | | | and comfortable one. Mr. Kudyba would now live far |
| and want to stay there while others want to see what | | | | from Australia doing important work but return home |
| else there is? Clearly, curiosity must play a role. | | | | regularly for vacations. It was a good combination for |
| Beyond that, experience must reinforce curiosity by | | | | a man who wanted to learn beyond the horizon. |
| providing rewards. Like many adventuresome | | | | After joining the UN, Mr. Kudyba realized that |
| Australians, Bob Kudyba was born with the necessary | | | | experience would only take him so far in his new |
| curiosity and life has kindly rewarded him for acting to | | | | organization. Middle and upper level management |
| satisfy his curiosity. | | | | positions are very competitive and those with |
| From quite a young age, Bob Kudyba wanted to know | | | | advanced degrees such as an MBA are best placed |
| more about the world beyond Melbourne, Australia -- | | | | for consideration for these posts. He quickly began to |
| the area where he was born, raised, and educated. | | | | research how one might add such a degree while |
| After high school graduation, Mr. Kudyba looked | | | | dealing with a very demanding work requirement in |
| forward to beginning his first job as a sales assistant | | | | remote locations. |
| for Australian Consolidated Industries. Unfortunately, | | | | Online learning became the obvious choice because |
| that work wasn't to his liking, and Mr. Kudyba joined the | | | | e-mail communications and Web-based research |
| Australian Army instead. In that service he worked | | | | through the Internet allows people to learn beyond the |
| hard for twenty years and retired with the rank of | | | | horizon without traveling. Because work deadlines are |
| Warrant Officer after being awarded the Medal of the | | | | so critical, his graduate education would have to be |
| Order of Australia. | | | | flexible. Mr. Kudyba was pleased to find that |
| His army experience gave him a chance to sample | | | | Rushmore University would allow him to adjust his |
| learning beyond the horizon when he was posted | | | | workload and focus his courses in ways that let his |
| abroad to work with the United Nations Mine | | | | work priorities come first while pursuing an MBA |
| Clearance Training Team in Pakistan and later to work | | | | degree. |
| in the Solomon Islands. Mr. Kudyba also enjoyed | | | | Some of his early courses helped Mr. Kudyba learn to |
| meeting people from all walks of life. As he traveled, | | | | be more organized in his schedule and studies. With |
| just listening to people was an education in itself. | | | | the benefits of understanding better ways to organize, |
| He also took formal courses related to his military | | | | he was able to carry the heavy loads of being the |
| duties. He attended the University of Melbourne and | | | | operations officer for a demining mission for the United |
| completed a Bachelor of Education and Training during | | | | Nations while earning an MBA. The rest of his MBA |
| his final years in the army and later earned a | | | | courses focused on practical challenges he faced in |
| Post-Graduate Diploma in Education and Training. | | | | leading the demining mission and provided him the |
| While in the army, he dreamed of becoming a teacher | | | | satisfaction of seeing that he could successfully apply |
| and looked into the possibility of creating a private | | | | what he was learning. |
| tutoring business in Australia to help others make the | | | | Mr. Kudyba's grandmother used to say to him, "When |
| most out of their opportunities. However, at the time of | | | | one door shuts, another one opens." He realized the |
| his retirement he decided to work and live overseas; | | | | wisdom of this saying when earning a master's degree |
| believing this experience would give him additional | | | | fired in him a greater desire to learn more and to add |
| knowledge and qualifications to consolidate his tutoring | | | | even more powerful skills. He told me that "I have |
| experience. | | | | found that I am never completely satisfied with what I |
| Because of his successful military experience, an | | | | know, and I am continually on a quest to learn more |
| opportunity arose to join a United Nations Mine Action | | | | about many topics and their backgrounds. Learning |
| program, which was then working on removing land | | | | also keeps the mind sharp and active which I believe is |
| mines (demining) and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) left | | | | a very important requirement as a person progresses |
| over from armed conflicts. Currently, over sixty | | | | through levels of management." |
| countries around the world are blighted with the | | | | Within a few months of graduating, Mr. Kudyba |
| scourge of landmines and unexploded ordnance so | | | | extended his learning to include the challenge of |
| there will be demand for landmine and UXO clearance | | | | earning a PhD. He is studying management methods |
| for quite some time. His demining work has taken him | | | | used for planning demining operations and developing |
| to Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Iraq. It's rewarding work, despite | | | | ways of not only improving this important activity but |
| its danger, because Mr. Kudyba knows that many | | | | also establishing habits that lead to further |
| crippling accidents and deaths can be avoided while | | | | improvements in performance and safety. |
| mine and UXO affected land can be returned to poor | | | | Where will his curiosity take him next? Undoubtedly, |
| people for useful purposes. | | | | the answer is over the horizon. |
| The adjustment to working for the UN was an easy | | | | |