If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful
Personally I discovered that you could go through the academy as a young scholar, come out, and almost immediately have an impact on the academic environment.
I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience