James C. Garland began his teaching career at The Ohio State University in 1970. During his twenty-six-year tenure there, he served as a physics professor and department chairperson, acting vice president for research and graduate studies, director of the school’s Materials Research Laboratory, dean of its College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and finally the school’s executive dean of Arts and Sciences. In 1996 Garland began a ten-year term as president of Miami University of Ohio. He retired in 2006.