Professor Graff served in the U.S. Navy as a HM(FMF), Hospital Corpsman “medic” aka, (Doc) from September, 1980 till August, 2005. Approximately half of his Navy career was spent serving the Fleet Marine Force. His list of duty stations, in order, include: Great Lakes Illinois, Portsmouth Virginia, Charleston South Carolina, Orlando Florida, Beaufort South Carolina, San Diego California, Camp Pendleton California, multiple tours of duty in Okinawa Japan and Yokosuka Japan before finally returning to Great Lakes Illinois where he taught basic Anatomy & Physiology, Patient Relations and The Law of War at Hospital Corps School. He retired as a Chief Petty Officer.
He was out of the Navy from October, 1984 through February, 1989 in what he refers to as his “wilderness Years!” He worked in a variety of sales and management positions as well as a brief stint as a radio announcer where he got his education in the "school of hard knocks" which, precipitated his return to active duty. Later, during the second of four consecutive tours of duty in Okinawa Japan; he met and married his wife Kyoko in 1996.
He began going to college and utilized the Navy Tuition Assistance program to finance and earn all of his degrees. He holds an Associate of Arts (AA’s) in “Medical Technology” and “Pharmacy Technology” from the University of Phoenix, a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Management and Asian Studies from the University of Maryland University College, Asia (UMUC) and a Master of Arts (MA) in Management from Webster University. He has additional Post Graduate work through Touro University International to his credit.
Upon retirement he and his wife returned to Japan where they now reside in a traditional Okinawan style house in the countryside. He taught briefly for Central Texas College, Pacific Far East Campus from 2005 through 2007. He also worked as a freelance writer/photographer “stringer” for Stars and Stripes from 2007 through 2010. In addition to Stars and Stripes, his writing and photography appears in a wide variety of print and online publications with more than 200 published works to his credit. He is the Founder of Goya Republic, a small "turn-Key" operation and publishes two blogs to showcase his writing and photography, just for fun.
He began with UMUC in 2009 in an administrative position and started to teach part time as an adjunct in 2010. His courses include:
-BMGT 110, Introduction to Business and Management.
-BMGT 324, Entrepreneurship and Starting a Small Business.
