Staff Spotlight – John Hearn

John Hearn is the current Director of Operations for the Student Memorial Center. He first came to Millersville University in the Spring of 2017 as the Director of the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, which has recently been renamed Campus Life. In July 2020, John was named the Director of Student Memorial Center Operations as SMC oversight shifted from Student Services Inc (SSI) to SAEM. John received his degrees in Recreation and Parks Administration from Eastern Kentucky University, and graduated magna cum laude. In 2011, John lived oversees and traveled to 11 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia in 11 months! His favorite country was Cambodia.

After receiving the call to teach parks and recreation and first-year courses at Eastern Kentucky University in 2010, John found his niche and stayed in higher education. He served as Coordinator of the EKU Honors Program in 2013 until promoted to the Director of First Year Courses and Learning Communities that same year. In 2016, John was promoted to Director of Student Life and First Year Experiences before making the move to Pennsylvania and to Millersville!

John loves working with student employees the most as they are his day-to-day colleagues. He likes to work hard and have fun and connect as a team and appreciates his opportunity to get to know new staff across the campus as the Student Memorial Center connects with so many different people. John prefers a balance of tasks and relationships in his daily work and the opportunity to create processes, procedures, and see them through to completion.

In his time at MU, John’s accomplishments include better aligning resources within SAEM and ensuring the mission of the division is carried out. He has been able to build on remote access to the SMC and has helped ensure that the building can be locked down quickly for emergencies. John is passionate about seeing students graduate with a degree as he was a First-Generation student, reflecting on how completing his degree changed the trajectory of his life and has been his biggest accomplishment.

When not working at Millersville University, John enjoys traveling with his husband, and together have visited 22 countries. He enjoys living in PA, partaking of outdoor activities, and exploring the local culture. We appreciate John’s hard work and his dedication to the SAEM vision to “Inspire, empower and graduate every student.”