Policy Leaders Forum: Rear Admiral Chatfield (Pardee ’87)
Rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield (Pardee ’87), President of the United States Naval War College and alumna of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was the featured guest at the Policy Leaders Forum at the BU Pardee School on February 27, 2020 for a discussion on “Educating National Security Leaders.” The event was hosted by the Dean of the Pardee School, Prof. Adil Najam.
Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield is the first female to be appointed President of the U.S. Naval War College and a career naval helicopter pilot. She graduated from what is now the BU Pardee School in 1987 and was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1988 as a naval aviator. Chatfield was awarded the Navy’s Political/Military (Pol-Mil) Scholarship and attended the Kennedy School of Government, receiving a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in 1997. In 2009, the University of San Diego conferred upon her a doctorate of education.
In her remarks at the Forum, Adm. Chatfield recounted her own journey to Boston University and its International Relations program and talked about the important life lessons that it taught her. She said that she feels that she has been incredibly ‘lucky’, but also that to be lucky one has to work incredibly hard. She spoke also about the many new and emerging challenges in the field of educating national security professionals for a very fast changing world. She pointed out that these changes include revolutionary changes in technology and capabilities of security professionals but also a changing global geopolitical order and the emergence on new challenges as well as opportunities.
The event was attended by faculty and students from across Boston University and invited guests. A frank an spirited discussion with the audience followed her remarks.
The Policy Leaders @BUPardeeSchool series brings senior international policymakers to Boston University for conversations with faculty, students and guests. Previous speakers in the series have included Senator Daniel Coats, the United States Director for National Intelligence; Dr. Rukakana Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda; Steve Beshear, the former Governor of Kentucky; Dr. Woo Yoon-keun, Secretary General on the National Assembly of South Korea; and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).