John Lorentz’s journey inspired by JFK

For decades, John H. Lorentz, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history at Shawnee State University, has devoted his life to impacting Americans through international efforts and national audiences via sharing Portsmouth history.

His journey across the globe was full of decisions of the heart—not the head.

Born and raised in Portsmouth, Lorentz’s path took him all over the world—including the Middle East where he served in multiple capacities. An original Peace Corps volunteer, Lorentz says that shaped his life like nothing else.

 “As soon as (John F.) Kennedy came up with the idea, it struck me,” he said.

Lorentz completed his junior year of college at American University of Beirut in 1960-61. While there, the Vice President Richard M. Nixon-Senator John F. Kennedy debates occurred. AUB secured and showed tapes of them.

“I attended,” Lorentz said. “That’s when he first threw the idea out there.”

Lorentz spent three months hitchhiking across Europe on the way home to Ohio. He took a ship from Rotterdam (Netherlands) to New York. 

As the ship arrived in New York Harbor, Lorentz and his friend were standing by the rail as they passed the Statue of Liberty. His friend asked what he was going to do next.

“I’m going to join the Peace Corps,” Lorentz said.

After getting back to Miami University (Ohio) for his senior year Lorentz applied and was among the first group of applicants chosen to go. He hoped for the Middle East. However, no programs existed there.

There was interest among Arab nations for American citizens to come to their countries, but they wanted to place a restriction that prohibited Jews from participating.

“The leadership in the Peace Corps said they couldn’t do that,” Lorentz said.

Turning the first invitation down, Lorentz stayed connected with the organization.

It was during class in Beirut while working on his mathematics degree that he experienced an epiphany. Looking out the window at the Mediterranean Sea, palm trees and mountains, he left class, dropped all his classes and enrolled in courses on the Middle East.

In 1961 back home in Ohio, Miami University didn’t have a single course on the Middle East.

“There I was in my senior year stuck,” Lorentz said.

After choosing psychology and earning a bachelor’s degree, Lorentz began exploring graduate programs on the Middle East. He looked at Princeton, Harvard, Chicago, UCLA, UC-Berkley, NYU and University of Michigan.

With a psychology degree, professors in the programs said he didn’t have enough academic credits related to the Middle East to enter—especially programs offering fellowships paying tuition.

“My father was a schoolteacher,” Lorentz said. “There was no way I could afford it on my own.”

Instead, he accepted a full ride at Ohio State to earn a master’s in psychology.

The day before graduating from Miami, he was in a dorm lobby looking out the window. He saw a uniformed boy on a bicycle. The boy comes in with a telegram. It was from the Peace Corps.

Lorentz opens it, seeing “Congratulations! You have been accepted into the first program in the Middle East.” It was in Iran.

With three days to decide whether he would board a plane to Utah State University in 10 days for training followed by a flight to Iran in September, Lorentz faced a big decision. Friends and family members told him to take the OSU offer. He could enter the Peace Corps later. Lorentz made the decision with his heart—not his head.

“It was an important decision I had to make,” he said. “I went with my heart against all advice.”

Soon after, he was on a plane to Utah, then to Iran for two years.

Concluding his Peace Corps service, Lorentz applied to graduate programs. He received feedback from a scholar at University of Michigan indicating his Peace Corps experience may not be enough to get him into a master’s program related to the Middle East.

“The odds were against me,” Lorentz said.

The scholar called him, initially discouraging him from applying but stating unofficially that the Peace Corps experience is of great value. Lorentz laughed and told him he had already applied! He also applied to Harvard. Michigan turned him down.

“Of all things, Harvard not only accepted me but gave me a National Defense Foreign Language fellowship,” Lorentz said.

There was a need for people who could speak non-western languages. They admitted him into the Middle East studies program. After finishing his master’s, Lorentz received job offers, including one in banking. A lot of big American banks had opened branches all over the world, including the Middle East.

“They were sending over bankers and it was disastrous,” he said. “They didn’t know the culture or the language.”

They told Lorentz they’d teach him the banking part. They wanted his cultural and language expertise.

“It was an offer for a prince,” he said. “It was hard to turn down.”

It was another decision of the heart.

Lorentz went on to earn a Ph.D. in near eastern studies from Princeton. It had an “incredible” influence on him. He received an NDFL to study there. It was during a year doing research in Iran, in 1970, that he met his wife of 53 years, Golriz. She was a nurse he met in a hospital. Lorentz took a position at Portland State University in Oregon in 1971. Golriz worked in New York at the time.

“That was my proposal,” he said. “Quit your job, come to Portland and let’s get married right away.”

Golriz stepped off the plane and they married the next day.

The new job was Lorentz’s opportunity to use his international expertise to impact current students in the Middle East Studies program. It was a time of globalization in the U.S. He was there for nearly 20 years.

By this then, Lorentz’s career was like a grouping of puzzle pieces that all fit together.

“Every stage has prepared me for the next one,” he said.

It was 1990, he received a phone call from then Shawnee State University math professor, Phyllis Kegley. She was on a committee searching for a faculty member to bring international opportunities to SSU.

Lorentz had no interest in going to SSU; however, he hadn’t been in Portsmouth in decades. He was interested in visiting his home area.

“They really wanted me,” he said.

SSU was only four years old. President Clive Veri showed Lorentz a list of goals—one of which was creating an international dimension. He took the job offer—his heart taking him home. Lorentz would later create and direct the Center for International Programs and Activities, bringing international opportunities to Portsmouth and taking students and faculty to other parts of the world.

Retiring as professor emeritus, Lorentz was rehired as associate provost for international education. His work at SSU brought about major initiatives, including a program with China that sent SSU teacher education students there for student teaching.

An initiative that takes the history and culture of Portsmouth to other audiences nationally is the work by John and his son, Nathan Lorentz. Two of their award-winning documentaries chronicling the history of Portsmouth — “River Voices” in 2002 and “Beyond These Walls” in 2014—are featured on PBS at the national level. 

“Swimming in Dreamland” was released this year is another documentary produced and directed by John and Nathan.