John W. Warren (Tennessee Technological University), 90, a former executive director of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, died recently.

Warren, a native of Arkansas, was a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University, Abilene Christian University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He completed post-graduate studies at the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.

Warren served at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Tennessee Technological University, and as board member, vice president, and president of the Association of College Honor Societies. He was executive director of Phi Kappa Phi from 1992-1999, and also served as associate executive director and regional vice president.

“The Society is grateful to have had John Warren as its executive director at the culmination of his long academic career,” said Society Executive Director Dr. Mary Todd. “Dr. Warren was instrumental in promoting the excellence that is the heart of Phi Kappa Phi’s mission.”

He was also a full-time minister of Churches of Christ in Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. Warren was a member of the Modern Language Association; the National Council of Teachers of English; the Tennessee Philological Association, where he served as president; and the Tennessee Council of Teachers of English, where he served as president.

“In higher education, we are in the business of educating for life, not just for a job,” Warren once said in a speech to the Association of College Honor Societies. “A complete education shapes and molds character; at least, it takes what our parents and churches and public schools have done and then hopefully refines and polishes. A genuine university education elevates the senses, the mind, the emotions, and the soul.”