The Naval Postgraduate School is celebrating its 100th anniversary of delivering "Excellence through Knowledge" with events designed to highlight the institution's role in forming naval leaders.
President Daniel Oliver launched the school's Centennial Kick-Off and Alumni Reunion Weekend with a State of the University address, followed by a review of its first century of world-class military-relevant research by Provost and Executive Vice President Leonard Ferrari.
"These extraordinary celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Naval Postgraduate School signal the beginning of a year-long tribute to the legacy that has been created by this wonderful institution over a full century of its life," Oliver said.
"We honor NPS for the magnificent university it has become and the even greater university it will be 100 years from now."
Visiting alumni, students, faculty and staff then gathered for the dedication of the new NPS Centennial Timeline -- 48 large outdoor panels covering the entire scope of NPS history from its founding at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1909 to the unveiling of the timeline itself.
"This was a monumental team effort that drew from every corner of the campus," Oliver said in christening the two-dimensional display that takes up an entire outside wall of the Root Hall lab and classroom building.
"The initiative and leadership for this project came from Kari Miglaw, director of both our Centennial Program and Alumni Relations. We will be forever in her debt because this permanent timeline will continue to serve as a remarkable and enduring gift."
For some the 'jewel in the crown' of the Centennial Kick-Off Weekend was a Centennial Gala dinner and ball held in the Barbara McNitt Ballroom in historic Herrmann Hall. Oliver opened the gala by inducting only the tenth alumnus out of more than 60,000 graduates throughout the university's history into its Hall of Fame -- former Marine Corps Commandant General Michael Hagee (Electrical Engineering, 1969).
"General Hagee is and has always been a tireless advocate for military higher education," Oliver told the guests at the elegant black tie event. "As Major General Mel Spiese, who is on our board of advisors, said so well, 'General Hagee is a model of advanced education in the armed forces and the value it brings to the service member and the service.'"
Other highlights of the centennial weekend were a remembrance service; an alumni open house at the newly renovated Dudley Knox Library; a ribbon cutting and retrospective celebrating more than half a century of NPS computing by the Information Technology and Communications Services Department; a Battle of Midway lecture by the School of International Graduate Studies; open houses and guided tours of the university's schools, labs and research institutes as well as Center for Homeland Defense and Security; a State of the NPS Foundation address; an NPS exhibit, lectures and a reception at the Monterey Maritime and History Museum.
The Naval Postgraduate School then flung open its gates to the entire local community for a special centennial rendition of its popular annual Memorial Day Concert on the Lawn on the theme "NPS: Honoring Heroes and Traditions."
"Thank you all for being part of the kick-off of our Centennial Year of the Naval Postgraduate School," Oliver told the crowd of thousands sitting on a colorful patchwork of picnic blankets on the lawn in front of Herrmann Hall. "I am proud to be the president of this special institution at this very special moment in its history."
The next highlight of the year-long celebrations is NPS Air and Space Week, Aug. 4-9, to which the school has invited its almost three dozen former astronaut graduates to return to their alma mater.
Barbara Honneger (NNS)
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