Interview of Frank McKee, M.A. English, M.A. Ed. Admin.

Frank McKee was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1948. His father was a World World II veteran and battery worker, his mother a key-punch operator and homemaker. Growing up in Olney, only fifteen minutes from La Salle’s campus, Frank attended Catholic schools his entire childhood. In 1967 he enrolled at La Salle as an English major but always knew that education was his true passion. Frank lived off campus and worked throughout his undergraduate experience, however, La Salle remained a social hub for him. In 1971, Frank graduated and shortly thereafter was hired to teach at North Catholic High School. Concurrently, Frank began a six-year active duty contract with the Army as a Electronic Warfare Operator Analyst. Working covertly stateside, Frank was able to compartmentalize teaching and spying while also completing two Master’s degrees at Villanova. He received a Master’s in both English and Educational Administration with a Principal’s certification. By age 27, Frank’s contract with the military expired in the same summer that he was hired to be English Department Chair for Lower Moreland County schools. Frank worked in Lower Moreland for thirty-five years under a number of different titles. Frank’s accomplishments include being Principal in both middle and high school, coaching track-and-field and creating an American Studies program for the district. Frank was encourage to return to La Salle by Dr. Francis Ryan as an adjunct professor in 1988 for the night program. Frank stayed, teaching one or two nights a week, for four years until his youngest daughter was born in 1992. He admitted during our interview that he could have provided more support to the students and that disappointment was a factor in his returning a second time. Again, Dr. Ryan reached out to Frank, this time to teach in the American Studies program in 2012. In the same year, Frank retired from Lower Moreland County which allowed him to focus all his energy towards La Salle. On June 1, 2017, when Dr. Ryan vacates the American Studies Department Chair, Frank will be promoted to the same position. The interview focuses mainly on Frank’s career as an educator and his reflections and ambitions towards La Salle University