The U.S. Naval War College held its annual Convocation ceremony Tuesday, Aug. 4, welcoming 477 students to the academic year, including 292 new students from all six branches of the U.S. armed forces and federal government agencies, 81 U.S. students continuing from previous fall and spring enrollments, and 104 international students from partner and allied nations.
The event’s keynote speaker addressed the audience virtually from Washington, D.C., describing the war college as “the leadership laboratory” and urging incoming officers to build relationships and remain loyal to their oath, fellow service members and allies. “We’re coming in at a very particular time, with threats looming around the world, but our Navy and Marine Corps are doing the job and securing the pathways,” the speaker said. “The strength of our military is not the equipment we have; it’s our Sailors and Marines. As leaders, our one call is to lead those young sailors and Marines the right way.”
NWC President Rear Adm. Darryl Walker told the incoming class the college’s curriculum is designed to prepare students for command. “Those who enroll in the U.S. Naval War College can expect a rigorous curriculum that will challenge them and, ultimately, forge them into strategists and warfighters who can be successful in any conflict, any time and any place,” Walker said. “Many of the greatest military leaders our nation has seen in the last century and a half have been students or faculty here at the war college.”
Students at the college work toward Joint Professional Military Education credit and either a diploma or a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies or Defense and Strategic Studies. The college graduates nearly 500 in-resident students each year, with about 60% later selected for command of ships, squadrons or other military units. Its alumni include three chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 15 chiefs of naval operations and 13 other service branch heads.
NWC also enrolls between 100 and 150 foreign officers annually. Since establishing a program for international students in 1956, the college counts more than 5,500 international alumni from 145 countries, roughly 10% of whom have gone on to lead their country’s navy.
The day before Convocation, the college held its annual Cloister ceremony, welcoming more than 300 faculty members from its in-resident and distance education programs. Faculty were formally introduced to the college’s new provost, retired Navy Capt. Michael O’Hara, who previously served as dean of the college’s Center for Naval Warfare Studies. “As a military and civilian faculty team, we teach in rigorous ways to prepare officers to be critical thinkers,” O’Hara told faculty. “We challenge them through readings, case studies, and seminar discussions to take estimates of situations, to express intent, to consider alternate points of view and counterarguments.”
Faculty members recognized with awards during Cloister included Michael Poznansky and Lt. Col. Marc Blankenbicker for excellence in research; Leigh Ann Perry and Cmdr. Daniel Post for excellence in service; and William Murray and Lt. Col. Matthew Rohlfing for excellence in teaching. Retired Capt. Thomas Mangold, Michael Martin, Robert Tomlinson, Mary Thompson-Jones and Donald Marrin were named emeritus professors.
Established in 1884, the Naval War College is based in Newport, R.I.
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