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December 2007
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ALUMNI PROFILE |
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Prep School Administrator and Two-Time Iraq Vet Reflects on Leadership
When John C. Church Jr., SOC/MA ’98, was dean at the Valley Forge Military Academy & College, in the bucolic Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, Pa., he used to tell new students there are five people who care about their progress. “The first person is your academic advisor. The second person is your tactical officer, who’s concerned about your maturation as a person and a scholar. The third person is your athletic coach. The fourth person is me, the mean dean… If you’re not doing well, you and I will become good friends,” he told them. “The fifth person is you, the student,” noted the lieutenant colonel who now serves as special advisor to the president of VFMAC, “because when all four of those other people all gang up on you, suddenly, you’re going to care.” One cannot help but notice Church cares deeply about whatever he does. His enthusiasm is contagious, whether he’s discussing his education, his military career, his life as a teacher and administrator, or his friends and family. He exudes pride. When asked his proudest accomplishment, he names more than one. “Academically, it was to have been the dean of Valley Forge Military College as we accepted women into our corps of cadets in 2005. The preparation and groundwork were done in 2005 and the first female students came in ’06. I’m incredibly grateful to have played a small role in that transition.” But it’s his military service that he describes as the most rewarding. “I had command of a selfless group of people who really made a change in our area of Iraq, and although there were losses, we did not lose anyone from my command.” Church began his military career as an enlisted sailor and then applied for the U.S. Naval Academy from the fleet. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School, in Newport, R.I., similar to VFMAC. During his school days, he liked the idea of a physical challenge and grew up hearing stories from his father and uncle, both of whom were combat decorated vets from Vietnam. He went on to become an officer in the Marines in 1989. Eventually, he wound up in D.C., and found his way to AU while serving at the Pentagon as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. “There was no way I could have obtained an advanced degree during the week. The hours at the Pentagon were just too brutal,” he remembers.
As his first civilian educational experience, Church says AU’s weekend master’s program in public communications really developed him as a scholar. “I’d be in class on Saturdays, getting very smart, and then I’d come to the Pentagon on Monday and I’d say, ‘why don’t we try this?’ and my senior officers would remark, ‘Wow, where’d you learn that?’” Church’s love of learning and leadership come through in everything he does. When his friend Joseph “Trane” McCloud, SOC/MA ’99, would ask him to come over and watch the football game on TV during those weekends Church was in grad school, he would have to politely decline, explaining he had schoolwork to do. Yet, Church touted SOC’s program so much that McCloud enrolled in the same program the following year. After teaching at University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the Naval War College, and George Mason University, Church came on board at VFMAC in 2003 as an assistant professor, teaching Leadership in Society before being promoted to dean. He then went to Iraq. His first tour was from fall 2004 to spring 2005, and his second tour was from fall 2006 to spring 2007. He was a civil affairs officer in Ar Ramadi, Al Anbar Province, both times. “We were able to make significant changes. If you read the papers now you find that Ramadi and Al Anbar are the template for success for fighting and winning a counter insurgency.” Church considers it a twist of good fortune that the communications skills he used in Iraq and the skills he uses at VFMAC are more similar than one might think. “The skills I learned in the military and honed at AU have served me equally well as a military civil affairs officer and as an educational practitioner and administrator. Talking to Iraqis, sheiks, imams, and mutkahrs, (mid-level civic administrators) reminded me of talking to parents, alumni, faculty, and students as the dean because you had to communicate the same message to different audiences. Audience analysis was huge, whether I was in a HUMM-V in a convoy in Iraq or a lecture hall in lovely Wayne, Pa.” Like his time in Iraq, Church now finds himself in a leadership position where he’s responsible for preparing scores of individuals. “You work with young people and you hope it takes,” he notes. Glad to be home with his wife of nine years and their two young sons, Church is now planning his own future amidst the many students and administrators he works to help. He’s awaiting word from two Philadelphia-based universities as to whether he’s been accepted into their PhD programs, where he wants to study how service is communicated in our country, “whether through the Peace Corps or Marine Corps.” This weekend, Church will continue serving his own community, when he join the ranks of Senator John McCain, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and the presidents of several area colleges and universities who have all been previously invited to address the more than 500 cadets on campus at VFMAC in an ecumenical service. He plans to talk about three of his friends who died a year ago in Iraq, including McCloud, for whom Church’s one-year old son, Travis Joseph, was named. Church invited President Kerwin and AU alumni in the Philadelphia area to attend the Dec. 16 event and extends the invitation openly. “I’m very humbled and excited and hope to see many local AU alumni at Valley Forge.” -Melissa Reichley | |||||
