A special agent

Robert Beatty has all the right academic credentials to be the new dean of the business school at Florida Gulf Coast University.

His six-page resume includes a doctorate degree in business administration, corporate experience, conference presentations, academic teaching awards and scholarly publications.

But here's something you're not likely to find on another university dean's resume: Beatty was a spy in Afghanistan for six months in 2005, sporting a long beard to blend in as he traveled by car with three other operatives. An expert in counter-intelligence, Beatty began his professional career in the U.S. Air Force, where he spent 13 years as a special agent and commander for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.