Shadyside Presbyterian Church

Dr. Earl Tilford

  • Professor of history at Grove City College
  • Director of Research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute
  • Air Force intelligence officer with tours in Vietnam
  • Nuclear targeting officer at Headquarters, Strategic Air Command.
  • Teacher at the Air Force Academy
  • Editor of the Air Force’s professional journal, the Air University Review.
  • Author of three books on air power in the Vietnam War and edited an anthology titled Eagle in the Desert: Looking Back on the Persian Gulf War.

Dr. Earl Tilford is a professor of history at Grove City College where he teaches courses on US Military History, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, National Security, International and Domestic Terrorism and Counter-terrorism, Russia from the Tenth Century to 1917, Modern Russia and a couple of humanities courses. Prior to joining the faculty at Grove City in 2001 Dr. Tilford served as Director of Research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, a think tank charged with looking twenty-five years into the future to anticipate possible threats to national security and suggest strategies, force structures and associated approaches for meeting these threats.

From 1969 to 1992, Dr. Tilford served as an Air Force intelligence officer with tours in Vietnam and as a nuclear targeting officer at Headquarters, Strategic Air Command. He also taught at the Air Force Academy and was editor of the Air Force’s professional journal, the Air University Review. Dr. Tilford earned his BA and MA in history at the University of Alabama and his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University. He has written three books on air power in the Vietnam War and edited an anthology titled Eagle in the Desert: Looking Back on the Persian Gulf War.

In June, Dr. Tilford will return to his native Alabama where his father once served as a Presbyterian minister. Once settled, he will research and write a book titled, “Peace Now…Roll Tide, Ya’ll: A History of the University of Alabama from George Wallace’s Stand in the School House Door to the anti-War Riots of May 1971.” Dr. Tilford has served as an elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle and at East Main Presbyterian Church in Grove City.