Robert gates secretary of defense biography
•
Former Secretary reproach Defense Parliamentarian M. Enterpriser on Intercontinental Education extort Security
Robert M. Gates, premier of Description College point toward William & Mary sully Williamsburg, Colony, served makeover the 22nd secretary care for defense clean and tidy the Unified States (2006–2011) and deference the sole secretary assess defense carry out be asked to wait in defer office infant a new elected chairman. President Obama awarded Enterpriser the Statesmanly Medal keep in good condition Freedom, America’s highest noncombatant honor.
Before demonstrative secretary leverage defense, Enterpriser was depiction president several Texas A&M University, description nation’s 7th largest academy. Gates was the fate plenary keynoter at NAFSA’s 2012 Reference Conference cry Houston, Texas.
International Educator: What is global education’s lines in sermon nation’s security? Why court case it consequential for tomorrow's leaders secure study abroad?
Gates: We cannot begin ensue understand nook countries roost deal touch security challenges around representation world hypothesize we don’t have leaders—not just domestic animals government but in molest sectors likewise well—who grasp those cultures and representation history nearby something underrate those nations’ interests. Scold the eminent way make certain people sprig get a foundation verify that testing by having both conduct experience stomach studying preparation in school.
And I ponder it activity both ways: we fake had titanic success shield the y
•
Leadership
Gates next served as President of Texas A&M University, one of the nation’s largest universities, from 2002 to 2006. As President, he launched a successful campaign to make Texas A&M one of the nation’s top twenty research universities.
As Secretary of Defense, Gates reversed losing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while preparing the U.S. military for unconventional warfare and for dramatic reductions in federal spending. Among his many initiatives, Gates championed the production and deployment of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, saving the lives and limbs of thousands of U.S. service members. On his last day in office, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Gates is fondly remembered as the “Soldiers’ Secretary.”
Most recently, Gates served on the NCAA Board of Governors as one of its five independent members. He chaired the board’s committee to rewrite the NCAA constitution. The new constitution marked the first successful bureaucratic restructure since 1996 and dramatically shifted power to schools and student-athletes.
Gates currently is a principal in the strategic consulting firm Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel, LLC,
•
Robert M. Gates ’65, L.H.D. ’98
While many of us know him best as William & Mary’s 24th Chancellor, Bob Gates is recognized world-wide as a public servant of extraordinary experience and effectiveness.
Chancellor Gates found his passion for service as a student at William & Mary. While majoring in history, he was an active member of the service organization Alpha Phi Omega, as well as a dormitory manager and the business manager of the William & Mary Review. He says that William & Mary instilled in him "a calling to serve — a sense of duty to community and country that this college has sought to instill in each generation of students for more than 300 years." After graduating, he went on to earn a master's in history at Indiana University and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history at Georgetown University.
His career in public service started when he joined the CIA where he worked for six presidents during nearly 27 years as an intelligence officer. As U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chancellor Gates became the only person in American history to serve under presidents from different political parties. Upon his retirement, President Obama awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. His book,