OHIO graduate’s law enforcement resume a major asset for Scripps School, Voinovich Academy

An injury took some velocity off John Born’s fastball when he played for the Ohio University baseball team in the 1980s, but the journalism degree he earned at OHIO would prove to be a turning point in a lengthy law enforcement career that led to a State of Ohio cabinet post.

Paving the way to his eventual return to the University as an Executive in Residence since 2019 serving at OHIO’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Voinovich Academy for Excellence in Public Service, Born climbed the ladder at the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) to the top job as superintendent.

His nearly 33-year career with the state culminated with service as director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), a position he held for six years in former Gov. John Kasich’s administration.

Since leaving state government, Born (Classes of ’85 and ’92) has deployed his extensive experience teaching Scripps students and Voinovich Academy cohorts courses on crisis communication leadership. In addition, he is a valued member of the OHIO360 initiative, which develops virtual reality (VR) experiences to train safety, security and health care professionals. The program works in tandem with the Academy, the George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, and the Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab at the McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies.

Time at OHIO prepared Born for career success

Born’s hanging fastball and his family connections in Athens helped to change the trajectory of his career, which early on he had hoped would send him to the big leagues.

“OU was pretty good in baseball, and so that was my plan A. But I knew if I could communicate well, I would have a career after whenever that ended and so journalism was what I selected, because I was able to communicate verbally and in writing and it's one of the best journalism schools in the country,” Born said.

Little did he know at the time how much that degree would pay off down the line.

“I ended up getting hurt going into my senior year, so I lost a lot of velocity off of the fastball, and so my chances of being drafted diminished,” he recalls. At the urging of his sister, a prosecutor, he decided after graduation to take a test for the Ohio State Highway Patrol “because they were well respected, and it would look good on a resume.”

“I had really no interest in-law enforcement, but I took the test, passed it, and was a night shift trooper for five years in Athens,” Born said.

From there, Born was promoted to sergeant and moved to the Patrol’s Wapakoneta Post. In 1992, his career took another turn.

“That journalism degree turned out to go beyond just helping me day-to-day and to communicate. It’s why I was selected the first public information officer (PIO) for the Patrol in their history,” he said. OSHP leadership discovered in its database search that Born was the only member of the Patrol at the time with a journalism degree, and two weeks later he was transferred to Columbus and became the PIO.

Master's degree from OHIO leads to new opportunities

Early in his law enforcement career, Born decided to return to OHIO, where his mother Patricia was a long-time employee at Alden Library, and seek a graduate degree. In 1992 he earned a Master of Social Science, Deviant Behavior/Public Administration, having co-authored an academic article on DUI recidivism.

“I wanted to try to make an impact on a macro level,” he said. “I learned a tremendous amount. It changed my perspective.”

With an advanced degree in hand, Born would work his way up at OSHP from agency spokesperson to public affairs commander to legislative liaison and finally a series of leadership positions that led to taking the helm of the Patrol as colonel/superintendent in 2011. Gov. Kasich then tapped him to lead ODPS, which houses OSHP. He held that cabinet position from Aug 2013 until his retirement from state service in January 2019.

Born cited two events involving Voinovich that left a major impression on him during his time in state government.

The first was the Lucasville Riot, when Born was still a PIO for the Patrol and Voinovich was governor.

“That shaped my experiences of media relations and what government can do – the importance of trust with government,” he said. Forty-seven of 50 inmates charged with capital crimes resulting from the incident were successfully prosecuted.

A second involvement with then-U.S. Senator Voinovich also underscored the longtime official’s dedication to public service even in difficult circumstances.

Born was named co-chair of the Ohio Task Force on Community and Police Relations along with then-Ohio Sen. Nina Turner following the police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Voinovich, the former mayor of the city, served as an honorary co-chair and kept close tabs on its progress, which resulted in concrete recommendations agreed to by the diverse group.

“He was an honorary co-chair during that entire process, and I would say guided with advice behind the scenes,” Born said. “Sen. Turner and I would speak to him after nearly every meeting.”

Returning to OHIO, helping to develop virtual reality training programs

Since returning to the University as a visiting professor, Born has taught classes and helped lead the development of virtual reality training programs as part of the OHIO360 team. He describes the experiential learning tool as like “wearing an IMAX on your head.”

“I first saw it when I was a director of public safety. We were hiring a large number of interns out of the Scripps College because they knew social media, and they knew the audience better than we did,” he said.

Born said the GRID Lab project has “progressed pretty significant significantly” since then-College of Communications Dean Scott Titsworth gave him a tour in 2018.

“It is a completely different paradigm or perspective on how you transfer experience to people,” he said. “It reduces classroom time significantly.”

“The Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy has built a core pillar around virtual reality training. I think we've now helped them produce over two dozen” VR trainings, Born said.

“We've had hundreds of students participate," he said. "We hire professional actors, but we've had hundreds of students go through and help in the production of these and learn, so there's an educational component to them as well. The people at the GRID lab are very, very talented, and no one in the United States is doing what OHIO360 is doing right now.”

Born was recognized by OHIO in 2015 with its Outstanding State Government Alumnus Award and is a member of the University’s Leadership and Public Service Advisory Committee.

In his spare time, Born enjoys spending time with family, hiking and drone photography.