John Southy Grinalds is a retired United States Marine Corps major general who served as the 18th president of The Citadel.

By the time he graduated from high school, Grinalds had become a class officer, an all-state football player, an honor student, and a colonel of the Junior ROTC unit.

He continued his education at Brasenose College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in geography and, once again, graduating with honors.

Serving with the Department of Defense Systems Analysis Office during the late 1960s, Grinalds became a workforce planning analyst—a field in which he developed an expertise used throughout his military service.

Grinalds has served abroad in the Mediterranean region, the Panama Canal Zone, Japan, Belgium, and for two tours of duty in Vietnam.

[3] From 1982 to 1985, he served as special assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, working in delicate negotiations between NATO and the French military.

Because of his outstanding service there, French President François Mitterrand inducted him into the Légion d'honneur, a rare honor for an American colonel.

Meanwhile, measures of cadet life such as academic performance, community service, employment upon graduation, and military commissions are strong indicators of a healthy, robust institution.