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Lehigh Carbon Community College
Pictured: City of Cumming Police Chief PJ Girvan (RU-2024)

By Suzy Alstrin

A public service leader within the City of Cumming, Georgia is among Reinhardt University’s December 2024 graduates. Police Chief PJ Girvan earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership (OML) with the goal of providing quality service to his staff, agency, and community. He now encourages other public service officers to pursue a college degree.

When the city promoted Girvan to the position in 2023, he was one of the youngest chiefs of police in the state of Georgia. Striving to perform at his best, and impressed with Reinhardt’s program, he enrolled. He recalled, “What helped me the most are the methods explored in managerial leadership. It taught me how to deal with different personalities and I learned tools to use to lead my department the correct way. It really helped me understand everyone’s emotional intelligence, which helped me with ways to give my department a positive work culture while fostering positive morale.”

Because the OML program is all online and offers students flexibility, many students were also first responders who could not commit to set times for class or study. “It would have been really hard for me to complete this if I wasn’t able to stay up late and catch up because of my hectic schedule,” said Girvan. He also appreciated the online class discussion board where he gained suggestions that can benefit his agency and felt the courses would also benefit other businesses and managerial roles.

In Fall 2024, Reinhardt and the City of Cumming Police Department launched a partnership to offer tuition discounts to current officers and for the department to cover remaining expenses. Girvan hopes all of his team members will take advantage, citing an increase by police departments nationwide to require officers to have a bachelor’s degree. To continue his education even further, he’s now pursuing a master’s degree.