Senior Faculty Members Recognized as Permanent Professors
By John Van Winkle, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs / Published January 17, 2017.
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. —
The Air Force Academy recognized four new permanent professors at a Jan. 6 investiture ceremony in Arnold Hall.
They are Col. John Cinnamon, head of the Aeronautics Department; Col. Scott Williams, head of the Mathematical Sciences Department; Col. Steven Hasstedt, head of the Biology Department; and Col. Mark Anarumo, director of the Center for Character and Leadership Development.
“Today’s ceremony underscores the responsibility that comes with this position,” said Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson. “It is a formal empowerment with responsibilities in four major areas: responsibility to our nation, which we never forget; the mission of the Air Force to defend that nation; the mission of the Air Force Academy to prepare young men and women to that end; and the role of the permanent professor to lead that effort.”
Johnson said permanent professors are the heart and soul of the academy’s academic mission.
“From our research laboratories to our classrooms, the visionary work you are doing will lay the foundation that will enable our graduates to thrive in the complex and interconnected modern profession of arms, she said.
“They are the critical anchors of stability for evolving academic programs, and they insulate the Academy from the turbulence of rapid rotational assignments, while maintaining links to the operational Air Force, as well as the national and international academic community,” Johnson said.
The new permanent professors were introduced at the ceremony by Dean of the Faculty Brig. Gen. Andrew Armacost, and Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Stephen Williams, who shared career highlights of the new permanent professors.
Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson (left), the superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, recognizes the Academy’s four newest permanent professors at a Jan. 6, 2016 investiture ceremony in Arnold Hall. The professors are (from left to right): Col. John Cinnamon, head of the Aeronautics Department; Col. Scott Williams, head of the Mathematical Sciences Department; Col. Steven Hasstedt, head of the Biology Department; and Col. Mark Anarumo, director of the Center for Character and Leadership Development. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jason Gutierrez)
The permanent professor position is a final stop in an Air Force career and comes by way of presidential appointment. Each is nominated by the secretary of the Air Force, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Brig. Gen. Robert McDermott as the Academy’s first permanent professor in 1957 and as the first permanent dean of the faculty in 1959. Since then, 98 men and women have served here as permanent professors.
(Editor’s note: Visit www.usafa.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/1487/Article/977381/senate-confirms-4-permanent-professors-at-academy.aspx for more information on Anarumo, Cinnamon, Hasstedt and Williams.)