Dean of Students

Lieutenant Colonel Ken Scholz

Lt. Col. Ken Scholz serves as dean of students at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, where he helps develop and sustain warrior linguists by coordinating with military services and academic, administrative and command leaders to support student success.

Scholz entered the Air Force in 2008 after graduating from the University of Portland through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

His assignments have included service at the Pentagon, where he was chief of force readiness, executive officer to the director and media operations officer for the secretary of the Air Force’s public affairs office. He also attended the Air Command and Staff College and served as an Air University fellow at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. At Yokota Air Base, Japan, he commanded American Forces Network Pacific, Defense Media Activity, leading more than 200 military, civilian and host-nation personnel across 11 locations.

During deployments, Scholz served as deputy director of public affairs for U.S. Air Forces Central Command at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in 2018; chief of public affairs for the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing in Kuwait in 2012; and public affairs officer for Provincial Reconstruction Team Khost, Afghanistan, from 2010 to 2011.

Before assuming his current position, Scholz served as deputy director of public affairs for Pacific Air Forces at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. In that role, he provided guidance and oversight for communication activities supporting more than 46,000 Airmen assigned to three numbered air forces and nine installations across the Indo-Pacific region.

Scholz holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Portland, a master’s degree in communication and media studies from George Mason University, and a master’s degree in military operational art and science from the Air Command and Staff College.

He is married and has two children.