Veteran, husband, father, grandfather, storyteller and Cleveland native are all ways to describe George Vourlojianis, who holds a doctorate in history, but one keyword is missing: teacher. Known to his students as “Dr. V,” he has dedicated his career to education, inspiring countless lives along the way.
Born in 1947, Vourlojianis grew up in Beachwood, Ohio, a quiet suburb on Cleveland’s East Side. At Beachwood High School, he was a well-liked “all-around good guy,” involved in the school newspaper, playing football and wrestling. Though he considers himself easygoing, he said he would advise his younger self to “spend more time in the library” while still “treating everyone well and doing the best I can.”
The value of kindness and connection is something he inherited from his father, who was his role model. “You could put my father in a room with strangers, and he’d know everybody within 20 minutes,” Vourlojianis recalled.
Graduating high school in 1966, Vourlojianis was accepted into John Carroll University, becoming the first in his family to attend college. From an early age, he dreamed of being a history teacher, saying, “It’s a goal that I strove for all my life.”
To Vourlojianis, history is “a story of the activities of men and women, of doing things—not good things all the time. But generally speaking, good does triumph.” While at JCU, George Prpic, who taught history at JCU from 1958 to 1989, left a lasting impression. “His door was always open. You could always come in and talk to him, no matter what it was,” Vourlojianis said. He graduated in 1970 with a bachelor’s in history and immediately began a master’s focusing on Russian studies.
Upon completing his degree, Vourlojianis volunteered for a commission in the U.S. Army, serving as a platoon leader and company executive officer. His time in the military broadened his worldview. “The thing that struck me about being in the service was meeting so, so, so many people I probably would have never met before,” he said. Meeting people from diverse places taught him that “everybody has a story to tell, and everybody’s life has value.”
After his service, Vourlojianis joined his family’s furniture store while completing his master’s thesis and looking for teaching jobs. His path took a pivotal turn when his parish priest, Fr. Robert Stephanopoulos (father of George Stephanopoulos from Good Morning America), encouraged him to pursue a doctorate. Despite his initial reluctance, Fr. Stephanopoulos persuaded Vourlojianis to visit Kent State University. Two weeks later he was accepted into the doctoral program.
In 1990, he started teaching at Lorain County Community College, where, he says, the faculty are committed to student success. “It wasn’t about our research or other things like that; it was about them.” He completed his doctorate and, soon after, seized an opportunity to teach military history at Kent, calling it another case of being “in the right place at the right time.”
Vourlojianis joined John Carroll’s history faculty in 1997 when Jim Krukones invited him to teach military history. Eager to return to his alma mater, Vourlojianis accepted without hesitation. “Can you start Tuesday?” Krukones asked and Vourlojianis replied, “Sure.”
What he loves about teaching is storytelling. “Intertwined in the stories are facts, different ways of looking at things, different interpretations,” he said. His classes incorporate videos and veterans’ testimonies, which he says takes the student’s understanding of the material “to another level of consciousness.”
Michael Baker ’23, who graduated with a degree in history, said “Dr. V is one of the most caring, and knowledgeable history professors. He is always willing to guide any student in the right direction of their research, regardless of if you are in one of his classes or not.”
After nearly three decades in education, Vourlojianis remains enthusiastic, noting that teaching keeps him young. John Carroll, he says, “has a lot of good vibrations and bounce.”
Beyond teaching, he is active in campus life, collaborating with the ROTC program and advising the Pershing Rifles and Student Veterans Association. Kevin Bohm ’26, a member of the Pershing Rifles, said that Vourlojianis “has helped me with steering the program through a challenging and busy first semester.
Though he has no plans to retire, he joked that “when the reaper begins to take his greater toll on me, it’ll be time for me to go.”
After over an hour of conversation, it was clear that Vourlojianis’s passion for teaching remains as vibrant as ever. “I’m still having a ball after 47 years,” he remarked.
