Leading with purpose: Dr. John Harbison’s commitment to service, learning and leadership

Shortly after graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering management, Dr. John Harbison—now a professor of practice for the Learning and Leadership programs at UTC—joined the U.S. Army to pursue a career steeped in leading and learning.

He spent 22 years as an Army officer, rising from second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel while holding various command and staff roles both in the U.S. and abroad. These experiences not only defined his military career but also shaped his leadership philosophy and approach to life, forming the cornerstone of the real-world knowledge he now brings into the classroom.

“Values were really drilled into me, putting my soldiers before myself, and that’s hard when you’re standing out in the cold snow in Germany and there might be one biscuit— for lack of a better term—left, but I can’t have that before my soldiers do,” he explained. “The soldiers came first; we always ate last as officers.

“When I got out of the military, I took those same skills with me into the civilian sector.”

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On Monday, Nov. 11, Dr. John Harbison will be the keynote speaker at UTC’s annual Veterans Day Luncheon, a celebration of the veterans and military-affiliated students, faculty and staff at the University.

At the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year, approximately 1,160 veterans, military-affiliated students, spouses and dependents of veterans were enrolled at UTC.

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Growing up, Harbison dreamed of serving as an officer in the U.S. Army.

He had five uncles who served during World War II, “from the very beginning all the way up through the occupation of Japan,” he recalled, including one family member who had been with Gen. George Patton in North Africa, Italy and Normandy.

“Some of the things you see on TV and in shows had me thinking, ‘Hey, that’s kind of cool. I’d like to do that,’” Harbison explained.

He graduated with Latin honors from UTC in May 1979 and was commissioned as a Regular Army second lieutenant, reporting to the Army Field Artillery Basic Officer Course in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Five months later, he was on his way to Germany.

The dream had come true.

“The plan in my mind was to stay at least 20 years; that was the intent,” he said. “Looking back, I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but it was the best thing that had happened to me because I was able to grow and develop skills like grit, perseverance, loyalty, honesty, integrity. All those things were really drilled into me and helped make me successful.

“As you can see, I’m a big guy and I have always been an introvert. Being 6-foot-5 and almost 300 pounds, I stand out in a crowd … so it was odd that I did choose to go into the Army because it put me into a lot of uncomfortable situations. I had to learn a lot of skills.”

During his Army career, Harbison served three tours in Germany and—in 1989—found time to complete his Master of Industrial Technology at Western Carolina University. His last assignment as an artillery officer was in the Pentagon, where he oversaw three training centers in the U.S. and Europe.

Reflecting on his time in Germany—as a battery executive officer with the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment in Bad Kissingen; as brigade fire support observer/trainer in Hohenfels; as operations officer with the 6th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery in Vilseck; and as branch chief of the NATO/Partnership for Peace exercise branch in Stuttgart—Harbison learned many of the leadership lessons that have stuck with him throughout his life.

“Probably one of the best assignments I had was towards the latter part of my career,” he recalled. “I was in Stuttgart, Germany, and I worked for U.S. European Command. It was a joint assignment where I worked with two Navy pilots, two Air Force individuals, a Marine, then myself and another Army officer. We coordinated training exercises with other nations.”

He worked directly with personnel from Poland, Ukraine, Russia and the Czech Republic.

“Part of it was a program called Partnership for Peace, which was with the former Warsaw Pact countries,” he continued. “We were assigned to those countries and we would coordinate training exercises with them. The intent was to get them to be more connected with the U.S.”

His time in Germany stands out not only because of his military service but because it is where he met his wife, Marion, in 1980—when Harbison was stationed in Bad Kissingen, a regiment post along the then-East German border. They were married in 1982, continuing their shared journey as he moved through assignments in the U.S. and Europe.

One of the most significant moments of Harbison’s story is how the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack affected him.

Harbison had retired from the Army one year earlier to take care of his terminally ill mother, Lois. In doing so, he was transitioning back to Chattanooga and “the civilian world.”

“I had just started working for Cigna Healthcare in August of 2001,” he said, “and I’m in this world of civilians that I was still not comfortable with when 9/11 happened.

“I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing here? I should be back in the Pentagon helping and doing something.’”

As he watched the events unfold, Harbison received a phone call from his mother that helped put things in perspective for him.

“She told me, ‘You know why God made my cancer come back? To get you out of the Pentagon.” Hearing that, he said, “was pretty powerful.” She passed away in 2002, “and I had two good years with her.”

Harbison soon found out that the plane that crashed into the Pentagon “basically went over where my desk was on the first floor. Of course, I was watching to see if I knew anybody that had died. The good news was that portion of the Pentagon had been pretty much emptied for renovation, so most of my friends had moved over to another wedge.”

He also learned that a general he had briefed in 2000, Lieutenant General Timothy Joseph Maude, had been killed.

“The general, he was the highest ranking individual that died in the attack,” Harbison said. “Right before I retired … I briefed him on the programs that I managed, sitting basically just across the desk just like we are here.”

After retiring from the Army, Harbison took on new challenges in the civilian world at Cigna Healthcare, but the transition wasn’t easy.

“I didn’t know anything about insurance. I had been in the Army; we didn’t need insurance,” he said.

However, Harbison said he leaned on his military training—specifically his leadership skills—to succeed in the corporate world.

“I told them, ‘My strengths are work ethic, dedication, mission focus, written communication skills … influencing others towards a common goal,” he explained.

His success in the corporate sector allowed him to follow his passion for education, leading him back to UTC to pursue his doctoral degree in Learning and Leadership—which he obtained in 2016.

In 2018, he joined the University faculty—first as a lecturer and then as a professor of practice—drawing on both his military and corporate experiences to teach his students about leadership.

Harbison said he takes pride in bringing real-world insight into the classroom.

“You can sit and read theories all day long, and if you don’t understand them or can’t see how they’re applied, it may not resonate with you—and that’s my role,” he said. “I’m able to reach into my military as well as my civilian world experiences.”

The Army, he said, taught him about “values, confidence, mission focus, flexibility. I call it stick-to-it-edness. Don’t accept defeat. Make lemonade out of lemons.”

Now, as he prepares to give the keynote address for the Veterans Day Luncheon, Harbison is modest about the honor.

“Part of me is like, ‘Why me?’ When I was in the Army, if a general knew your name, that was usually not a good thing,” Harbison joked.

“But it’s very humbling to be asked to speak at this event by the Chancellor’s Office. I appreciate the tip of the hat.”

Dr. John Harbison’s military service summary

Graduate:

• U.S. Army Field Artillery Basic Officers Course, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 1979
• U.S. Army Field Artillery Officers Advanced Course, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 1983
• Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1987
• U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989

Assignments:

• Battery Executive Officer: 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Bad Kissingen, Germany, October 1979-February 1983
• Battery Commander: Second Armored Division, Fort Hood, Texas, September 1983-July 1987
• Assistant Professor of Military Science: Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina, August 1987-May 1990
• Brigade Fire Support Observer/Trainer: Combat Maneuver Training Center, Hohenfels, Germany, May 1990-November 1991
• Operations Officer: 6th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery, Vilseck, Germany, November 1991-July 1993
• Chair and Professor of Military Science, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, July 1993-August 1996
• Branch Chief: NATO/Partnership for Peace Exercise Branch, Operations Directorate, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany, August 1996-May 1999
• Staff Officer: Training and Simulations Division, Training Directorate, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations United States Army, The Pentagon, Alexandria, Virginia, May 1999-October 2000

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