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By Elizabeth Griffith | January 9, 2017
Lieutenant Commander Eric Chitwood has been an adjunct faculty member at Marian’s Adult Programs since 2007, where he teaches business courses in leadership, management, policy, ethics, and operations. He enjoys teaching the business ethics and leadership courses the most and finds them relevant to the needs of the current workforce. In an interview for this Faculty Spotlight, in December of 2016, Chitwood emphasized, “It’s a vital part of the curriculum. Ethics goes hand in hand with leadership. Without ethics, your business is doomed to fail.”

Although Chitwood holds an MBA from Anderson University, he is now among the first students to enroll in the new online Master of Science in Leadership program at The Citadel. As an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves, he found himself gravitating to teaching and training roles which fed his desire to teach at a collegiate level. His passion for developing leadership skills in his sailors, as well as in his students, has not gone unnoticed. 

2016 MAP graduate, Dujuan O’Bryant, shared the following statement regarding his experience with Chitwood: “Eric is an exemplary leader. He has made a profound impact on my life, in the way he conducts class, and makes every student feel like they are playing an intricate role.”

Chitwood pulls lessons from real life examples accumulated during his time in corporate America and the military, so his students may better understand the coursework. 

As Chitwood works towards his goals of becoming a commanding officer in logistics for the U.S. Naval Reserves and a full-time faculty member at a university, he shares some valuable advice for fellow adult students, “Prioritize your schedule to make your education a top priority. Avoid the added stress of submitting inferior work by “chunking” larger assignments into manageable daily and weekly tasks.”

As a MAP instructor, he has taught many courses in an online format. He recommends students take full advantage of the interactive options available to them; fully engaging with the professor and classmates creates a better learning environment for everyone.

Chitwood, who remarried last summer, lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife, Stephanie and their four children. He enjoys running and typically completes 6, half and full marathons a year as a way to travel and reconnect with friends all over the country. The advice he gives someone in training for a marathon echos that which he would offer to someone working towards a degree: “Stick to your plan. Pace yourself. Anyone can run a marathon if you stick to your training schedule. All you need is the discipline to get up and do it.”