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Spotlights John P. Rose ’68 University of Dayton Quarterly, Spring 2006 P. Rose can make a good case that he has the best job in the world. Since November 2002, he has lived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, overseeing the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. The center is named for the former U.S. Army chief of staff and secretary of state who devised the plan for reconstructing post-World War II Europe. “The Marshall Center is setting the conditions for generations of peace, stability and economic growth throughout Europe and Eurasia,” says Rose, a retired Army brigadier general. The 12-year-old center addresses threats to U.S. security in the post-Cold War world. Its approach is similar to that of the Marshall Plan in terms of building partnerships, shared security and common values. Education is its tool. Governmental officials and military members come for 12-week intensive courses — simultaneously interpreted in Russian, German and English — about democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights. Rose, 59, teaches; oversees an international staff of 250 and a $28.5 million budget; and hosts, with his wife, more than 1,000 guests annually at their home. And he travels. Every week, the former accounting major is off to one or more of the countries that send students. He speaks with U.S. and German ambassadors and officials in the defense and foreign affairs ministries about the center’s criteria for students and solicits input on coursework. Thirty-five percent of the participants come from Muslim nations. A father of three, Rose says citizens must feel secure in order for new nations to build the stability, security and markets necessary for them to survive — and thrive. “And it’s not that we’re trying to import our form of democracy,” says Rose. “But we are trying to share with them our values, our methods and our means in terms of rule of law, freedom of worship, respect for women, freedom of the press and respect for private property as a foundation upon which e verything else can grow.” George Marshall would like the sounds of that. —Janet Filips ‘77

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