Dr. Mark J. Conversino is Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. In this role, as a member of the university’s senior leadership team, he is the principal authority and executive-level advisor to the AU Commander and President, for all issues pertaining to academic programs across the university. This includes curriculum development, integration and assessment, institutional research, regional and specialized accreditation compliance, coordinating with Headquarters Air Force, major command staffs, and working with AU Center Commanders and School Commandants to ensure the quality and viability of their education programs. He advises the AU Commander and school and center Commanders and Deans, on all matters relating to faculty, including recruiting, retention and development. He continues to teach in programs and courses across the university. Dr. Conversino specializes in military and airpower history and theory, Russian history and contemporary Russian foreign policy, military affairs and politics.
Dr. Conversino joined the Air War College faculty as a civilian following his retirement from the Air Force, serving as the college’s Dean from 2008 to 2015. Prior to assuming his current position in 2019, he served as Deputy Commandant of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.
EDUCATION
1981 Bachelor of Arts, History, Eastern Kentucky University
1985 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
1988 Master of Arts, History, Indiana University, Bloomington
1992 Doctor of Philosophy, History, Indiana University, Bloomington
1995 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2000 Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. June 2003–July 2006, Associate Professor and Course Director, Department of Warfighting, Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
2. July 2006–November 2008, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs, AWC, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
3. November 2008–April 2015, Professor and Dean, AWC, (promoted to Professor, March 2009), Maxwell AFB, Ala.
4. April 2015–December 2016, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Air University, Ala.
5. December 2016–July 2019, Deputy Commandant and Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, SAASS, Air University, Ala.
6. July 2019–present, Chief Academic Officer, Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
1991 Outstanding Military Educator in History, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo.
1997 General Muir S. Fairchild Educational Achievement Award, Air University, Ala.
2005 Faculty Award for Outstanding Service, Air War College, Ala.
2004, 2006 Faculty Leadership Award, AWC, Ala.
2015 Air Force Award for Meritorious Civilian Service, AWC, Ala.
MAJOR PUBLICATIONS
Book Fighting With the Soviets: The Failure of Operation FRANTIC, 1944–1945, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997. (Ukrainian edition, Спільна війна: провал операції «Фрeнтік», 1944–1945. [Trans. Sergey Kokizyuk]. Kyiv, Ukraine: Київ Видавництво "К.І.С," 2015.)
BOOK CHAPTERS
“Asymmetric Air War: Ethical Implications,” with Martin L. Cook, in Issues in Military Ethics, To Support and Defend the Constitution, ed. Martin L. Cook. Albany: SUNY Press, 2013; also published previously in The Moral Dimension of Asymmetrical Warfare: Counter-terrorism, Democratic Values and Military Ethics, ed. By Th. A. van Baarda and D.E.M. Verweij. Leiden, NL, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009
“Should Deterrence Fail: Strategic Attack Theory and Planning in the Nuclear Era,” in William C. Head and David A. Mets, eds., Plotting A True Course: Reflections on USAF Strategic Attack Theory and Doctrine—The Post World War II Experience. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003
“Executing DELIBERATE FORCE, Aug. 30-14 Sept. 14, 1995” in Robert C. Owen, ed., Deliberate Force: A Case Study in Effective Air Campaigning. Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1999
“The Changed Nature of Strategic Air Attack,” in Landpower in the 21st Century: Preparing for Conflict. Carlisle Barracks, PA: US Army War College, 1998
MAJOR JOURNAL ARTICLES/ENTRIES IN EDITED WORKS
“Mikhail Frunze,” “Sergei Gorshkov,” and “Curtis LeMay,” entries in Daniel Coetzee and Lee W. Eystrulid, eds., Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History’s Greatest Military Thinkers. 2 Vols. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 2013
“Operation DESERT FOX: Effectiveness With Unintended Effects,” Air and Space Power Journal Chronicles Online, Summer, 2005
“Operation FRANTIC,” in David T. Zabecki, ed., World War II in Europe. New York: Routledge Publishers, 1999
“The Changed Nature of Strategic Attack,” Parameters, Winter 1997-1998
“Back to the Stone Age: The Attack on Curtis LeMay,” Strategic Review, Spring 1997
“Sawdust Superpower: Perceptions of US Casualty Tolerance in the Post-Gulf War Era,” Strategic Review, Winter 1997
“Operation FRANTIC,” Airpower History, Spring 1991
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
Executive Director, Alabama World Affairs Council
Chair, Air University Press Publication Review Board
Advisory Board/Contributing Editor, Æther: A Journal of Strategic Air Power and Space Power
Visiting Senior Mentor, Baltic Defence [sic] College, Tartu, Estonia
Member, Society for Military History
Past Member, Academic Advisory Board, Baltic Defence [sic] College, Tartu, Estonia
MAJOR CONSULTATIONS
April 2010, Advised Commandant, Dean and senior staff of Baltic Defence [sic] College on major revisions to the college’s core staff officer courses.
September 2010, Advised Dean and Staff of Italian Air Force’s Istituto di Science Militari Aeronautiche on curriculum and faculty development, assessments and US JPME-equivalent standards for the school’s graduate curriculum.
March 2013, Team lead, CJCS-directed team updating CJCSI 1800.01, Officer Professional Military Education Policy; specifically overhauled the revised document’s Continuum of Officer Professional Military Education.
December 2013, Advised Commandant, Dean and senior staff of Baltic Defence [sic] College on U.S. Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) standards for the college’s senior command course.
July 2014, Member, Joint Staff/J7-chartered Staff Assistance Team evaluating comprehensive changes across National Defense University.
(Current as of June 2024)