CLARKSVILLE, TN − Dr. Phillip Mongan has been named the new chair of the Department of Social Work at Austin Peay State University – but long before jumping into university administration, he was jumping out of planes with the Army’s 501st Infantry Regiment in Alaska.
At the time, Mongan was chasing adrenaline, purpose, and a future he hadn’t quite figured out. “I was that 17-year-old kid who wanted excitement,” he said. “The pitch was: jump out of planes, go to exotic places … At the time, that sounded like a dream.”
But after an injury led to an honorable discharge, Mongan faced a different kind of mission: finding new direction. With the help of his grandmother, a trailblazing Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) commander, he connected with a vocational rehabilitation counselor through his local Veterans Affairs (VA) office. That conversation changed everything…