Eric Fretz
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Dr. Eric Fretz was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. He is an Eagle Scout (National Outstanding Eagle Scout awardee) and retired from 24 years of active and reserve service as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. His military career included 3 deployments across two wars. He closed out his career with a year-long mobilization to Baghdad, Iraq serving in the Multi-National Corps – Iraq, assigned to the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps in 2008. While in Iraq he also started a scout troop and built a camp for Iraqi youth on an Iraqi special forces base. He has earned over 30 military awards including the Bronze Star Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
Dr. Fretz has completed two Bachelors degrees, two Masters degrees and a dual PhD in Education and Psychology. He has held teaching appointments at the University of Michigan in the Psychology Department, the School of Education, the College of Engineering, and LSA Applied Liberal Arts. He has created or taught courses from the 100 to 600 level, and presently teaches the core practicum for the Minor in Entrepreneurship. He co-owns and manages two medical clinics. He was certified as a Navy Master Training Specialist, and does international consulting with UM’s William Davidson Institute. He serves the community volunteering in nearly a dozen roles including: Mentoring Student Veterans on multiple campuses, Washtenaw County Veteran Treatment Court as Mentor Program Director, and Founder/President of two 501c3 Veteran charities, the Editorial Board of the Journal Of Veteran Studies, and Chair of the State of Michigan’s Region 9 Veterans Community Action Team. He and his wife Dr. Jennifer Fretz and their 3 grown children live on the outskirts of Ann Arbor on the Huron river.