KU rolling out welcome mat to military college

Kansas University will announce today a new initiative to help students at Fort Leavenworth’s Command and General Staff College receive advanced degrees in Lawrence.

Led by David Lambertson, a former U.S. ambassador and a KU faculty member, the new initiative will seek to provide a one-stop destination for Fort Leavenworth soldiers who wish to earn a degree.

“It’s something that’s quite appropriate for us to do,” KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said. “This is a pool of students in the state of Kansas that want to be educated, which is what we’re supposed to do.”

Lambertson said KU plans to be more user-friendly for Fort Leavenworth residents.

“We’re going to streamline procedures without modifying the university’s academic requirements or rigor,” he said.

Lambertson said he envisioned his office as a place where students from Fort Leavenworth could come for any information about KU and its programs. He said he would try to develop special degree programs that would be of interest to students from Fort Leavenworth and also encourage the university to adjust some class meeting times so they might accommodate students enrolled at the Command and General Staff College.

The initiative also will promote joint courses, research and other endeavors between the college and KU.

The initiative has been almost a year in the making.

Felix Moos, professor of anthropology and longtime expert on intelligence and the military, said he went to Hemenway last year with a number of colleagues, urging him to do more with Fort Leavenworth. Moos said the chancellor agreed that it was time to be much more involved with the fort.

“I’ve been trying to move the university – really dragging them,” Moos said. “I’ve been trying to do this for 40 years.”

In a press release, Fort Leavenworth’s new commander praised the new program.

“I am excited to continue our partnership with KU and the Command and General Staff College,” Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell said. “The graduate studies initiative immensely benefits our efforts to develop adaptive leaders and creative thinkers for the challenges of the 21st Century.”