Annual Report 2019
A Review of the 2019 Calendar Year and AY2019 Fact Book
Download 2019 Annual Report single-page | two-page spread
- Capabilities Delivered
- Discoveries Achieved
- Only One NPS
- 2019 Year in Review
- NPS Fact Book
Ann E. Rondeau, Ed.D.
Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
A Message from the President
“I had no idea.” Marking my first year as President of Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) that is the refrain I have most often heard from first time visitors and leaders. It is a declarative statement of the impact of this remarkable university — and testifies to the prospects for its future impact. Reflecting on the past year, recognizing some of our most significant accomplishments and milestones, and anticipating the year ahead with priorities-driven focus, one thing is certain…NPS is both a Naval and national treasure!
The Naval Postgraduate School Overview & Short History
NPS was established as the School of Marine Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1909. In 1919, the school was renamed the Naval Postgraduate School. In 1949, as part of reorganization within the Department of Defense, Congress authorized the move of NPS from Annapolis, Maryland to Monterey, California. In 1951, NPS officially opened its doors in Monterey. Since its beginning, when the School was chartered to focus on science and technology, NPS has evolved into an institution that serves naval, defense and national security related interests by providing current and future readiness, advances in technology, and educational and operational programs that directly support all facets of national defense and homeland security.
At NPS, four world-class schools oversee 14 academic departments and over 35 research and education centers that provide 80 master’s and 16 doctoral degree programs and 60 academic certificates to approximately 1,460 resident students, including more than 111 international students, as well as to 853 distributed-learning students worldwide. Non-resident courses are delivered to students through online, web-enabled, video-tele-education systems and/or by visiting faculty.
Continuous learning, refresher and transitional educational opportunities abound, and short-term executive education courses and a variety of short courses are also offered by NPS, both in Monterey and abroad.
Over 610 scholars and professionals, five percent of whom are military officers and approximately one-third of whom are tenured or tenure-track, comprise the NPS faculty.
2019 NPS QUICK FACTS
Student Enrollment
2,704 average on board
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1,497 Residential
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820 Distance Learning
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387 Certificate
Degrees Awarded 1,161
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1,146 Master Degrees
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11 Doctorates
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4 Post Masters
NPS Graduate Degrees Conferred by Service
Accreditation
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WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)
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Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
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Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
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Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)
Faculty & Staff
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227 Tenure Track Faculty
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247 Non-Tenure Track Faculty
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42 Military Faculty
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338 GS/Wage Grade staff members
Research
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Approx $100 million in sponsored research funding
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Research programs are aligned to NPS curricula
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NPS research is valuable to improving the security of the U.S.
Finances
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$418 million Operating budget: including military salary
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$98 million Direct Authorization: without military salary
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$110 million Reimbursable Income
Academic Facilities
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102 Classrooms That Offer Media Technology
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19 Classrooms With Video-Teleconferencing
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19 Classified Facilities
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166 Labs
Capabilities Delivered
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) awarded 1,161 graduate degrees over the course of the 2019 Academic Year. But what was delivered to our Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and our homeland security and international partners is so much more.
At NPS, just about every student awarded a graduate degree has performed a challenging thesis or capstone research effort. And these theses are not just research questions that add to our body of knowledge … Rather, NPS students explore research topics that are directly related to the critical issues and key operational and strategic problems they witness in the fleet and field.
THIS SYNERGISTIC COLLABORATION HAS AFFECTIONATELY COME TO BE KNOWN AS THE ‘MAGIC’ OF NPS, AND IT DELIVERS CAPABILITY TO THE FLEET AND FORCE.
Discoveries Achieved
On June 25, 2019, at 2:30 a.m., a SpaceX Falcon Heavy (pictured) launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying 24 satellites for deployment into orbit … the Naval Postgraduate School’s own NPSAT-1 was one of them.
“It’s the end of an era,” said Professor Emeritus Rudy Panholzer, former Space Systems Academic Group Chair who oversaw much of NPSAT-1’s design, engineering and development executed by a team faculty, talented engineers and, of course, students.
NPS IS THE UNITED STATES NAVY’S INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING ... WE ARE WARRIOR SCHOLARS AND THE SCHOLAR PIECE IS HONED HERE; THERE’S JUST NOT A FINER INSTITUTION IN THE WORLD.
Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller III
Former Commander, Naval Air Forces
Only One NPS
Through the course of the past year, perhaps especially over 2019 given the Navy’s introspection on educating its Sailors, the university is often poised a seemingly simple question.
What is unique about NPS?
In a simple set of 12 statements, Distinguished Professor Peter Denning and Faculty Chair Geraldo Ferrer answered the question quite well.
1. NPS is Navy’s corporate university. Its mission, faculty, curriculum, and methods of teaching are shaped for the unique education goal of preparing warfighters for their service to the U.S.
WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT NPS?
2019 YEAR IN REVIEW
January19
Former Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer presided over the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) change of charge and investiture ceremony, Jan. 29, where retired Vice Adm. Ann E. Rondeau relieved retired Vice Adm. Ronald A. Route to become the 49th president of the university. A 38-year Navy veteran, Rondeau comes to NPS with a broad range of leadership experience.
February19
More than 300 leading technology experts from private industry, top universities, military and government agencies converged at NPS’ Joint Interagency Field Experimentation 19-2 (JIFX), Feb. 4-8, to explore new ways to adapt rapidly changing technologies to a host of DOD-relevant domains, including defense support to civil authorities, autonomous systems, geospatial intelligence and cybersecurity.
March19
For the first time in eight years, Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) students return to the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) campus in Monterey, Calif., as part of an exchange program supporting NPS’ ongoing effort to enhance partnerships with civilian institutions and academia to the benefit of its students.
April19
NPS' International Executive Committee (IEC) hosted its annual International Day on the university’s Academic Quad showcasing the diversity and culture of its international students and their families with the local community, April 27. The celebration opened the doors of NPS to the public, offering food, entertainment and cultural information of 22 different nations from around the world.
May19
The U.S. Marine Corps at NPS hosted the university’s latest Big Idea Exchange (BIX) presenting and discussing their cutting-edge research and ideas with a greater Navy and Marine Corps audience, May 16. The BIX forum brings forward new and potentially game-changing thinking developed by NPS faculty and students to address grand challenges in American national security.
June19
The NPS President’s Board for Student Affairs hosted the university’s first-ever Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Auditorium, May 31. NPS students, faculty and staff took the opportunity to take part in a candid discussion about the opportunities and challenges facing female leaders in the military community.
July19
Executive Chairman of Enterprise Holdings, Inc. Andy Taylor, along with Enterprise board member retired Adm. James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talked about how innovation, leadership and Navy values impacted the company as part of the latest Secretary of the Navy Guest Lecture (SGL) in King Auditorium, July 9.
August19
Lt. Sephora Fortune, a 2019 graduate of NPS’ financial management program, served as a Nuclear Officer aboard the USS George Washington (CVN 73) when it responded to Haiti in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Her mother led a mission and orphanage in the same location until the storm destroyed the modest facility in 2016. She is pictured showing a proposal of the Rose L. Fortune Faith Outreach Ministry.
September19
NPS led a research mission across the Pacific Ocean which may vastly improve the Navy’s understanding of how sleep can boost crew performance during arduous amphibious operations. Dr. Nita Shattuck, Crew Endurance Lead with NPS’ Human Systems Integration (HSI) program, headed up a team of Navy psychologists from across the Fleet for a three-week embed.
October19
Discover NPS Day welcomed the Central Coast to NPS, with more than 2,200 students, along with their teacher and parent chaperones, and denizens of the Monterey region, flooding the campus and its 40 interactive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) venues aimed at allowing students to see, touch, build and to be inspired as the next generation of innovators.
November19
NPS and General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS), provider of a diverse portfolio of aerospace and energy systems to the DOD, finalized a three-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, to conduct both classified and unclassified research in the area of advanced space technologies.
December19
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) lost one of its most treasured teachers with the passing of retired Navy Capt. Wayne P. Hughes, professor of practice in military operations research and Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of Operational and Information Sciences. A legendary strategist and Fleet Tactics Author, Hughes passed away on Dec. 3, 2019, at the age of 89.