Air University transformation unifies all officer PME

  • Published
  • By Christine Harrison
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  After several months of reformation planning, Air University Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz activated the Spaatz Center for Officer Education April 29.

The Spaatz Center is now the umbrella organization unifying the continuum of all Air Force officer professional military education, from the basic level of officer training to master's degree programs.

The consolidation of resources at Air University began in February 2007 as a result of Program Budget Decision 720 when Air University lost more than 270 positions.

Under the leadership of General Lorenz, a steering committee synergized the education and support functions for officer PME at: Squadron Officer College, which includes Air and Space Basic Course and Squadron Officer School; International Officer School, Air Command and Staff College; School of Advanced Air and Space Studies; and Air War College.

With the cuts in PBD 720 and the loss of positions, the opportunity presented itself to consolidate, be more efficient and effective, and produce a officer continuum of education all under one leadership center to make a difference over time, General Lorenz said.

"General Spaatz, the first chief of staff, would be proud that we are putting all of our officer education and the continuum of education together," he said. "The synergy will make us better."

The Spaatz Center is led by Air War College Commandant Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Miller, and ACSC Commandant Brig. Gen. Jimmie C. Jackson Jr. is the vice commander.

"We were not handed this from the Air Staff or from our parent [major command].  The Spaatz Center solution was built from the creative genius of our faculty and staff at Air University," General Miller said during the ceremony. "Teamwork is the essential nature of this new center construct; one team developing, delivering and supporting diverse educational programs across our various schools that develop officers from second lieutenant to colonel."

As part of the reorganization, many of the academic resources from individual schools are now more readily available to all Spaatz Center institutions, said Col. Michael Pipan, special assistant to the Spaatz Center commander.

"From the time an officer enters Air and Space Basic Course to the time he graduates as an O-6 from Air War College, there is a continuum so the right education is delivered at the right time with the right content," Colonel Pipan said. "Along with that, too, is an effort to institutionalize the process for inputs to the curriculum."

The Spaatz Center for Officer Education has an academic council, which comprises school commandants, deans and chief academic officers. The council will establish the integrated curriculum and provide oversight of the curriculum input requests from various agencies.

The Education Support Squadron also was activated April 29 and that staff assumed the responsibilities for plans and programs, budget, scheduling, personnel, development and training, Air Force Fellows program and interns, and assessments of all the schools under the new umbrella center.

Colonel Michael Guillot, commander, said this squadron is where a lot of the efficiencies were developed in the reorganization. The ESS was created by combining the same kinds of functions from all of the schools that make up the Spaatz Center, he said.

In addition to identifying duplicate positions in each school, Colonel Guillot said the reorganization developed a support squadron that has depth.

"The intent is to always have a backup for that kind of function," he said. "We will always have two or more people with access to the portfolio of an organization."

No change comes easily, and Colonel Guillot and his team are prepared for the challenges of establishing the ESS.

The ESS comes from a consolidation of personnel taken from each of the Spaatz Center schools.

The activation ceremony also included the inactivations of the 35th and the 38th Student Squadrons in the Air and Space Basic Course School. The 35th Student Squadron earned four Organizational Excellence Awards and one Outstanding Unit Award in its history. The 38th Student Squadron, whose lineage traces back to an original student squadron at Squadron Officer School in the 1950s, educated more than 17,800 Airmen, international officers and Department of Defense civilians.

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