Alumni Salute: John Galliano

John Galliano is a University of Fairfax graduate, a veteran, and now the program director for cybersecurity technology at University of Maryland Global Campus. Before attending University of Fairfax, John attained his master’s degree in information systems and worked in the federal sector in Honolulu, Hawaii.

As an airman deployed in the Gulf during Desert Storm, he saw that a university offered classes to deployed service members, inspiring him to pursue a career in education. “When you have an opportunity to give back, I think it has a strong pull, and so that kind of progressed along in my career.”

He, later, became an adjunct professor while deployed in Korea and he realized that he wanted to go further. “A strong motivator for me was the knowledge that, in higher education, I needed to have a terminal degree.” He researched schools online, talked to his longtime trusted contacts, and found that University of Fairfax was the right fit for him.

John found importance in finding a school that was military friendly. He received the Blue Ribbon Grant twice and utilized other military benefits that University of Fairfax had to offer. “It wasn’t just lip service… [they] made me feel like these were people that I could relate to.” John said that, even through a minor scheduling issue, “[University of Fairfax] was right there and provided me with [a grant] that was more than adequate to cover that additional time in terms of tuition. They were just fantastic about that.”

A couple years after graduating from University of Fairfax, John had the opportunity to become the program director for cybersecurity technology in DC. “Because I had leaned forward and the University of Fairfax was there for me and provided me that great opportunity, I was able to capitalize on it.”