Dr. Jack Marchbanks, PHD ’18, spent years climbing the ranks at the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and in 2019 was appointed director of the state agency that touches the lives of every Ohioan.
But his biggest climb—his “mountaintop achievement,” he says—is the doctoral degree he earned from Ohio University.
It was a goal that had been weighing on him for years and a pinnacle moment in a journey of lifelong learning that has fed his mind and soul and enabled him to contribute to culture and community.
Marchbanks’ office is adorned with his diploma and even an OHIO Bobcats sticker and will soon include another achievement. This spring, he will be presented Ohio University’s Outstanding State Government Alumnus Award, recognizing exceptional achievements in public service. Marchbanks was selected as the 2020 award winner, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed OHIO’s opportunity to celebrate him. Marchbanks and Alan Miller, BSJ '82, MS '02, who recently retired as executive editor of The Columbus Dispatch, will be honored at OHIO’s State Government Alumni Luncheon scheduled for May 18.
“I’m very humbled and very grateful for the recognition,” Marchbanks says. “It’s been a blessing. I really hold that award among my dearest that I’ve received in my life.”
The award not only honors Marchbanks’ nearly 30 years of service at ODOT, where he previously served as assistant director of business and human resources and as a district deputy director, but also speaks to his lifelong learning, curiosity and passions that he has turned into opportunities to serve.
“Lifelong learning is something that enriches you,” Marchbanks says. “I’m always seeking to learn something. Always being curious keeps my mind active. Some of the sharpest people I’ve seen in life are people, even into their 90s, that were always seeking, had hobbies, were readers, engaged in the arts, and they were just people who were curious.”
Marchbanks began feeding his curiosity as a child, developing interests in music, history, the arts and, yes, transportation.
His father worked on the railroads, putting down ties and rails, and traveling throughout the United States. When he returned home, he brought a part of his travels with him.
“I’ve always had a lifelong interest in music because my father had a huge record collection. Working for the railroad, he would bring back records from all over the South,” Marchbanks recalls. “Great records from Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago. Blues and R&B were my very first loves.”
In 2007, he pitched a feature idea to the hosts of “Jazz Sunday,” a weekly program on WCBE (90.5 FM), a radio station in Columbus, where Marchbanks resides with his wife, Alice Flowers. Fifteen years later, Marchbanks continues to co-host the three-hour show, bringing his beloved music and a little history to listeners.
“I try to drop historical information, not just play the music, but tell people about the backstory, the context, what was going on in culture, what was going on with the artist—so many things that people don’t know. They just like the songs,” he says.
When he isn’t presiding over ODOT operations or jazzing it up in Central Ohio, Marchbanks can be found volunteering to emcee jazz and blues festivals across state and serving as a trustee for Columbus’ Lincoln Theater, a performing arts and education center rich in African American and jazz history.
While he was building a legacy of service across Ohio, Marchbanks couldn’t help but think about some unfinished business.
After earning a bachelor’s degree at the University Dayton and an MBA at Xavier University, Marchbanks enrolled in Clark Atlanta University, where he intended to pursue a master’s degree in political science and government and then his doctorate. When his father fell ill, Marchbanks’ doctoral plans were put on hold but not forgotten.
“I always had it in the back of my mind, ‘I never finished that,’” he recalls.
While working at ODOT in the early 2000s, Marchbanks attended a seminar focused on public sector leadership and strategy through OHIO’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service. It was his first visit to OHIO’s Athens Campus.
“I was really impressed. It stayed in my head,” Marchbanks remembers. “When I started thinking about getting my PHD, I really was impressed by the approach to the leadership seminar and person-to-person respect I got from the professors. They respected what you could bring to the discussion, to the classroom, by benefit of your lifelong learning. So, I said, ‘If they value lifelong learning, I got a lot of that, so let me see what I can get going there.’”
He enrolled in OHIO’s College of Arts and Sciences and in 2018 achieved his higher education dream, earning a doctoral degree in American history and a certificate in contemporary history. In 2019, Marchbanks was recognized with a College of Arts and Sciences Notable Alumni Award for his career, community and OHIO contributions.
“There’s a special place in my heart for Ohio University because it’s a mountaintop achievement,” he says. “I not only admire, but I also have great affection for the history department. I intend to stay engaged with the University for the rest of my life.”
Since graduating, Marchbanks has stayed connected to his most recent alma mater. He has plans to collaborate with Professor of History Dr. Katherine Jellison on bringing awareness of African American history in the Southeastern Ohio region.
Marchbanks has also remained active with the Voinovich School, once serving as a member of its advisory board and now sitting on its Public Service and Leadership Advisory Committee. Last spring, he delivered a transportation leadership lecture to the Voinovich School’s Dublin-based Executive Master of Public Administration Program.
“Many of the lessons that I learned from the Voinovich School, including stakeholder identification, stakeholder mapping, working through political and elected officials, has really benefited not just me but the entire team that I lead here at the Ohio Department of Transportation. I apply many of those principles every day,” Marchbanks says. “I want to see that program flourish and grow because I believe it is one of the best programs in the country.”
And while his career at ODOT has seen Marchbanks and his team achieve numerous infrastructure and transportation accessibility achievements, what he is most proud of is the mentorship he has had the privilege of providing future public service leaders.
“There are several young engineers, planners and public servants who I have the good fortunate of being in the position of being their boss, and they have gone on to do some great things,” Marchbanks says. “My biggest accomplishment is putting people into this really important field of infrastructure who really care about it, who heed to the call of public service, who want to provide a system that’s safe, well-maintained, efficient and positioned for the future. They’re about mobility and equity, too—access for all.”