Chatfield, Shoshana, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, President, Naval War College

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Naval War College Review Volume 74 Number 4 Autumn 2021 Article 3 2021 President's Forum Shoshana Chatfield Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, President, Naval War College The U.S. Naval War College Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Chatfield, Shoshana Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, President, Naval War College (2021) "President's Forum," Naval War College Review: Vol. 74 : No. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol74/iss4/3 This President's Forum is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact repository.inquiries@usnwc.edu. Rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield is the fifty- seventh President of the U.S. Naval War College and a career naval helicopter pilot. A native of Garden Grove, California, she graduated from Boston Uni-versity in 1987 with a bachelor of arts in interna-tional relations and French language and literature. She received her commission through the Naval Re-serve Officers Training Corps in 1988 and earned her wings of gold in 1989. Chatfield was awarded the Na-vy’s Political/Military Scholarship and attended the Kennedy School of Government, receiving a master in public administration from Harvard University in 1997. In 2009, the University of San Diego conferred on her a doctorate of education in leadership studies.1Chatfield: President's ForumPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2021PRESIDENT’S FORUMAS WE HAVE DISCUSSED in previous issues of the Naval War Col-lege Review, the College’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant modifications to College procedures during the latter half of academic year 2019–20 and all of academic year 2020–21. By embracing alternative teaching methodologies and using vir-tual and hybrid learning technologies, the College continued to carry out its assigned missions in a manner that was both safe and effective. The implementa-tion of College-wide in-person and teleworking initiatives protected the health of the College community during this unprecedented period. We are happy to note that educational outcomes, as measured by course-completion and graduation rates, met or exceeded prepandemic levels.During the lengthy pandemic lockdown period, the College’s senior leaders conducted an intensive analysis of all aspects of the College’s operations to iden-tify gaps, challenges, and future opportunities. The recently published 2022–2027 Strategic Plan represents the culmination of these analyses, and it serves as a way ahead as the College anticipates a return to normal public-health conditions for the 2021–22 academic year and beyond. The full text of the plan can be found on our website at www.usnwc.edu, but I’d like to share with you now its broad outlines.The plan begins by identifying the College’s overall vision, documenting our assigned missions, and specifying the primary lines of effort that will be used to achieve the goals and outcomes we seek. It also delineates the College’s values and identifies a series of operational objectives to be pursued. By design, this plan is not prescriptive, but rather is meant to chart a course toward the end points we see as vital to the Navy, the Department of Defense, and the security and prosper-ity of the United States of America and its allies.2Naval War College Review, Vol. 74 [2021], No. 4, Art. 3https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol74/iss4/3 1 0  NAVA L  WA R  C O L L E G E  R E V I E WOur Guiding Vision: We inform today’s decision makers and educate tomorrow’s leaders.We provide today’s decision makers and tomorrow’s leaders with educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to anticipate and prepare strategically for the future, strengthen the foundations of peace, and create a decisive war-fighting advantage.Our Mission: We deliver excellence in education, research, and outreach.In today’s dynamic security environment, even if numerical and technological superiority could be achieved, it would not be enough to ensure victory over the array of potential adversaries. Our national-security leaders also must possess the mental strength and flexibility to outthink our competitors in all domains of engagement. At the Naval War College, we expand the intellectual engagement of naval, joint, interagency, and international leaders and warriors to achieve that cognitive advantage. We value the broad and relevant experience of our faculty and staff and are committed to investing in the professional development of all members of our diverse team. We embrace innovative education-delivery meth-ods. We are responsive to the support needs of our students, faculty, and staff and the requirement for sustaining and investing in our infrastructure. In our historic facilities in Newport, Rhode Island, and in numerous locations around the globe, we deliver excellence in education, research, and outreach and are committed to building enduring relationships with our alumni, partners, and stakeholders.Our Values: In implementing the strategic plan, the Naval War College team pur-sues a series of operational objectives and conducts day-to-day activities that are consistent with the following values:• We embrace diversity, inclusiveness, and open communication to foster a creative, collaborative, and high-performing team that treats all people with professionalism, dignity, and respect.• Our respect for the expansive range of ideas, experiences, and scholarship within our community underpins our commitment to academic freedom.• We are agile, responsive, and innovative in addressing emergent issues and changes in tasking and the external operating environment.• We are committed to continually measuring and improving the quality of service provided to our stakeholders. The Lines of Effort We Will Pursue: The Naval War College creates an enduring strategic advantage by excelling in the execution of educational, research-and-analysis, and outreach initiatives. We do so by performing the following:• Delivering an education that integrates rigorous and relevant curricula and world-class research and analysis. Our in-residence and distance-learning 3Chatfield: President's ForumPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2021 P R E S I D E N T ’ S  F O RU M  1 1modes align with our students’ learning requirements and their full-time or part-time availability to engage in scholarly pursuits. We expand our students’ capacity for strategically minded critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and creative problem solving.• Engaging in cutting-edge research and analysis of concepts, plans, and mature and emerging technologies. Our data-driven approach to develop-ing, testing, and validating concepts strengthens cognitive power in the face of uncertainty and complexity. Our interdisciplinary environment attracts scholars and experts from across the military, the rest of government, academia, and private industry, and promotes original and applied research for scholarly publication, policy and doctrine review, and advancement of knowledge in the profession of arms.• Conducting outreach and engaging with naval, joint, interagency, and inter-national alumni, partners, and stakeholders to incorporate diverse perspec-tives, foster a network of enduring partners, build partner capability and capacity, and enhance interoperability.The impetus for all we do is derived from the five mission areas the Chief of Naval Operations has assigned to the Naval War College. These are as follows: • Educate and develop leaders• Support defining the future Navy and associated roles and missions• Support the Navy in an era of great-power competition• Strengthen global maritime partnerships• Promote ethical leadership across the forceThe College will accomplish these missions by achieving a series of mutually reinforcing objectives that involve refining the services and products we currently provide, innovating new services or products, and enabling increased organiza-tional performance by enhancing internal functions and business processes. Spe-cific responsibilities, metrics, targets, and milestones will be published separately in an NWC Strategy Implementation Framework document. Using this iterative framework, we will assess progress toward achievement of each operational objec-tive on a quarterly basis. We believe that successful implementation of this strate-gic plan requires achieving specific, measurable, relevant, and time-bound results. I will update you periodically on our progress toward achieving each objective.All of us should remember the advice of noted author, educator, and manage-ment consultant Peter Drucker, who notes, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” I am confident that all of us at the Naval War College are ready to commence the hard work necessary to translate intentions into accomplishments.4Naval War College Review, Vol. 74 [2021], No. 4, Art. 3https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol74/iss4/3 1 2  NAVA L  WA R  C O L L E G E  R E V I E WThis strategy was developed during the COVID pandemic and is being pub-lished as many members of our campus community are returning to regular classroom and office work after more than a year of disruption. Plans made in fiscal year 2020 (FY20) were overtaken by the COVID response. FY21 was a transitional year, with remarkable outcomes across our three lines of effort as our proficiency and productivity peaked in the virtual realm. As we exit the COVID en-vironment, we take on the difficult work of rebuilding routines, refining practices that worked for us in the past, and innovating around new ideas and opportuni-ties exposed through our experimentation with new technologies and changes in the global security environment.We are called to consider the implications of great-power competition as we approach our important work with a sense of urgency. We face FY22 and beyond with optimism and renewed commitment to our values and mission. It is an hon-or to serve with each and every member of this vibrant Naval War College com-munity, which carries such a deep legacy of service to our Navy and our nation.SHOSHANA S. CHATFIELDRear Admiral, U.S. NavyPresident, U.S. Naval War College5Chatfield: President's ForumPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 20216Naval War College Review, Vol. 74 [2021], No. 4, Art. 3https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol74/iss4/3

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