Doing What’s Right

About the Book

Growing up on a small farm in humble surroundings, serving a distinguished military career, and trying to be the best husband, father, grandfather, and college president he could be has taught Dr. James C. Underwood a lot about leadership. Even in retirement, he’s still learning—because that’s what leaders do. In Doing What’s Right, he looks back on his formative years, including how his mother was left alone with eight children following the death of her spouse. She taught her children core values, including hard work, compassion, fairness, respect, honesty, and accountability. These values would serve Dr. Underwood well during his U.S. Army active and reserves military career, including combat duty in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and concluding as an Infantry Training Battalion Commander in the USAR. His educational leadership experiences expanded 45 years concurrent for the first 20 years with his military U.S. Army Reserve duty. In 2001, he was selected president of Kaskaskia College and served the final 14 years of his educational leadership career in that position until his retirement. He was driven as a college president by the same values that led his military career and early educational positions. During his educational career, he experienced a massive heart attack and two back-to-back open-heart surgeries. This life-threatening situation changed his life from a fast-paced and hard charging style to one focused on valuing life and the time we have left on earth. Through his faith and beliefs, Dr. Underwood’s leadership principles were based on Doing What’s Right for people and organizations.

About the Author

Dr. James C. Underwood retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Infantry, serving on active and reserve duty. His educational leadership career consisted of a total of 20 years as a college business officer, five years as a chief academic officer, and 20 years as a college president. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and he earned an Associate’s of Arts Degree, a Bachelor’s Degree in Comprehensive Business, a Master’s Degree in Business, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership.