Building Leaders for the Nation

EOU has a long tradition of shaping leaders of all kinds, including the military. Since the 1940s, students have arrived with ambition  and leave with purpose, strengthened by the discipline of military service and the support of dedicated staff and faculty.

Few represent that legacy more than Jack Johnson, ’72. Now 86, Johnson spent nearly 45 years in the military before beginning a second career in EOU’s Financial Aid Office. He retired in 2001 but remains one of the most influential figures in the university’s military science history.

“If you want to be a good leader, you learn things in the military you don’t learn anywhere else,” Johnson said.

EOU’s connection to military training began in 1940, when the campus prepared pilots for World War II. Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs followed and evolved as the nation’s needs changed.

In the early 1970s, amid a push to close ROTC programs, Johnson developed the curriculum for a new alternative: GOLD (Guard Officer Leadership Development). “It was the very, very first, at EOU,” he said. The program began in 

La Grande and expanded nationally, serving as a platform for developing a new generation of National Guard leaders. 

Johnson not only impacted military programs but also students as well. He remains most proud of those he helped. One of them, George Mendoza ’97, Oregon’s 2025 Superintendent of the Year, once sat across from him, ready to quit school. As a first-generation student, Mendoza didn’t know how to afford tuition. Johnson was able to secure financial aid for him, and Mendoza went on to earn a graduate degree and serve on the founding Board of Trustees at EOU. 

The two remain close, and Mendoza now leads efforts to establish an ROTC program in Hermiston.

“I remember Jack as a mentor,” Mendoza recalls. “I remember him as a friend; he would take the time to get to know me, and encouraged my success.” 

Today’s ROTC program continues that tradition of resilience and leadership. Connor Mayberry, ’24, joined the Oregon National Guard to fund college but discovered a passion for learning through ROTC. “I went from thinking I’d get an associate degree to thinking a master’s or doctorate wouldn’t be so bad,” he said.

Jessica McDonald, ’24, was drawn by ROTC scholarships during the pandemic. “It paid for housing and helped with meals,” she said. Now she encourages incoming students to explore ROTC without fearing enlistment.

For Mike Fisher ’22, now a police officer in Boardman, EOU’s current military advisors made all the difference. “Kerry Thompson was the biggest reason I understood the benefits EOU offered,” he said. “He genuinely cares.”

“This university has always served the country,” Johnson said. “Flight school. ROTC. GOLD. We led the way.”

And thanks to Johnson, today’s cadets, and the faculty and staff who support them, that legacy continues.