Welcome New Headmaster, Dr. Joel Bius
Dr. Joel R. Bius
Hello and Greetings from Eastwood Christian School! My name is Joel Bius and I am the school's newly appointed Headmaster. I recently retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the USAF where I culminated my 24 year career as the Associate Dean of Education and Assistant Professor of National Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base. During the last decade of my career, I had extensive experience in academic leadership and administration, scholarly research and publication, and Socratic teaching and the scholarship of discovery. I am married to Leigh Bius, née Brannan, and we are both very proud of children Jake (18), Brooks (15), Mary Jewel (5), and John Henry (3). I am the youngest of four children and hail from Valdosta, Georgia, where I attended Valdosta State University and received a commission through Air Force ROTC in 1996.
My academic credentials include a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Southern Mississippi (2015) with minor fields in War & Society and Colonial Social History. I also earned an M.A. in Military Studies with an emphasis in the American Civil War (2004) and I am a graduate of the USAF Air Command and Staff College, where I received a Masters of Operational Art and Science (2009). However before all these, I was just a skinny kid at W.T. Moore Elementary School, Cobb Junior High, and Valdosta High School! God truly works with clay vessels!
I am blessed to have had the opportunity to enter the academic arena as a published author with works that focus on American twentieth-century military history, war & society, environmental history, and the military-industrial complex. These experiences in graduate level teaching, education, research, and publication, have given me a profound appreciation for scholarly works, the classic pursuit of true knowledge, as well as a deep appreciation for Reformed Theology and the liberal arts. As Francis Bacon said, "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."
Since 2015, we have been active members at Eastwood Presbyterian Church. Leigh and I teach Sunday School to various age groups from high school to nursery. I also sing in the congregational choir and lead youth and nursery music, while Leigh serves as church Nursery Director. My hobbies include high school sports, guitar, canoeing, camping, cycling, hunting, reading great history books, and drinking coffee with Leigh.
We are excited about the opportunity to serve the Lord and the Eastwood Christian School community. Together we look forward to coming alongside parents and students as we strive to lead this great institution and endeavor to train and equip godly children and young adults. It is my utmost desire to see this institution grow and flourish. Possibly now more than ever, our world needs young men and women trained with the habits of mind and patterns of inquiry found at the heart of Classical Christian education. Classical in that it is grounded in grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and recognizes the past is a conversation with the present about the future. Christian because all true learning has at its foundation a Sovereign, Covenant, Creator God who inspires beauty, precision, and who orders all things. I humbly and prayerfully aspire to carry on this legacy established by former Eastwood Headmaster John Geiger as we labor to give all children and young adults who enter Eastwood's doors the opportunity to grow in wisdom and stature as they seek God’s truth – uni veritas