For Matt Orlowsky, leadership has been the common thread running throughout his life.
He served nearly three decades in the U.S. Air Force, with assignments across the globe, while holding various leadership roles in what the military branch calls “combat support and community service”—managing everything from childcare centers to dining facilities to fitness operations, especially essential services for deployed personnel.
He taught management courses and helped develop a management curriculum at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs. He’s published research on leadership in such journals as Journal of Character and Leadership Development and Organization Development Practitioner.
And he focused on leadership for his dissertation for the Executive PhD program at the Daniels College of Business, identifying how leaders translate experiences into insights by analyzing 352 USAFA cadet essays that describe their most profound leadership experiences.
Matt Orlowsky, second from left.
Now, comes the next chapter in Orlowsky’s leadership journey: He just began a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of human resources and leadership at Rollins College in Florida.
“This role is really the perfect marriage of all the things I love—leadership, teaching and research,” he said.
It’s also a role he says is vital, given the importance of good leaders in the workplace.
“Good bosses matter more than anything else for retention. If I can teach future leaders how to create that environment, I think that’s one of the best impacts I can make,” he said.
Orlowsky credits his latest transition largely to the Executive PhD program, from which he graduated in 2022. The program offers a doctoral degree that allows graduates to join the world of academia if they choose, or to develop high-quality research approaches to identify inventive, evidence-based solutions.
Time at DU
While still serving as a faculty member at the Air Force Academy, Orlowsky was encouraged by colleagues to pursue an advanced degree. He enrolled in the Executive PhD program in 2019, excited by the program’s balance of academic rigor and flexibility—critical for a professional in active service.
“The structure really worked for someone like me,” he said. The Daniels program—designed for experienced professionals—allowed Orlowsky to pursue his research interests while continuing to serve. He even worked on his dissertation, and defended it remotely, while deployed in Qatar.
“That kind of flexibility, combined with the high expectations of the program, was essential to my success,” he said.
The Executive PhD in business program focuses “on taking a practitioner’s perspective and bringing it into academia,” explained Executive PhD program manager Daniel Baack. “Matt embodies the program due to the incredible experience he had serving our country, as well as the work he’s done and will continue to do as an academic. Now that he’s at Rollins in a tenure-track position, he’ll be focused even more on research, and he’ll be able to continue to bring that practitioner background into the role.”
A New Chapter
Rollins College, a liberal arts institution in central Florida, resonated with Orlowsky for its emphasis on teaching and its mission-driven motto: Fiat Lux—“Let there be light.”
“Helping students shed light on their own experiences—that’s exactly what I want to do,” he said. “Being a teacher and being a leader—there’s a lot of overlap within those two roles. I hope to be able to help people and set them up for that next stage in their career.”
In addition to teaching, Orlowsky is excited to focus on research and continue exploring how leaders learn, adapt and develop over time. The tenure-track position offers him the space to evolve as both a scholar and mentor.
“I hope I can set people up for the next stage in their careers,” he said. “Whether they’re future managers or just trying to be better in their everyday lives, good leadership changes everything.”