NCLS is a two day symposium in which participants have an opportunity to hear from speakers sharing inspirational stories of character and leadership with the audience through his/her own words. It is one of the premier national symposiums in the area of character development, bringing together distinguished scholars, military leaders, corporate executives and world-class athletes to explore various dimensions of character and leadership. Speakers share their life experiences in order to challenge the audience to become more effective leaders of character. NCLS is a personal development symposium.

NCLS is open to anyone. This includes, but is not limited to, undergraduate students, visiting faculty members, community participants, military academy graduates, Association of Graduates members, U.S. Air Force Academy staff and faculty, out of state military members, local military/ DoD ID card holders, and federal, state, county, and city government employees.

You will hear from distinguished scholars, military leaders, corporate presidents, world-class athletes, and others in order to explore a character-related theme. The speakers will share their life experiences, challenges, and triumphs in alignment with the NCLS year-long theme, reinforcing the Air Force Core Values, encouraging reflection, and motivation for personal action.

Registration for NCLS is scheduled to open in October for visiting students and faculty and in January for all other participants. Once registration is open, an email invitation will be sent to our previous participants and a “Registration” button will be available on our website. Please visit the “Deadlines and Fees” page for specific dates or email us at ncls@afacademy.af.edu with questions.

On the NCLS registration landing page, click the button that describes you.

Visiting Student
• You are a student at a college or university between ages 18-26. As part of this registration type, lodging and meals will be provided on base in the cadet facilities.
Visiting Faculty
• You are a college or university faculty or staff member attending NCLS with students
• You are an academic educator attending without students
Community Participant
• You are a college or university student over age 26
• You are an Air Force Academy alum or Association of Graduates member
• You are a member of the local community with no military affiliation
• You are local or non-local area military, not assigned to U.S. Air Force Academy
U.S. Air Force Academy
• You are a cadet, staff or faculty, military or civilian assigned to any U.S. Air Force Academy organization

In order to complete your registration in a timely manner, please select “Other” to proceed. Our NCLS registration team will update both your individual registration and our list of visiting universities.

If your school already has four students confirmed, we can place students on a waiting list. Should a spot become available, students will be notified on a first come first served basis, after December 6. Once all the registration requirements have been met, the registration status will change from “pending” to “confirmed.” If you wish to be placed on the waiting list, please have your faculty sponsor email NCLS@afacademy.af.edu with your name, email address and college/university.

Speaker sessions will open for registration first week of January. Typically, each NCLS speaker is scheduled to present multiple times over the the two days; however, a few of our speakers may only speak once due to schedule limitations. Speakers are scheduled for various engagement sessions throughout the event, some large and some small. The speaker you are looking for may be scheduled for a smaller session, which may already be full. If that is the case, that specific speaker session will no longer be visible as a registration selection.

While a guest may certainly attend with you, Visiting Faculty, Visiting Students, and U.S. Air Force Academy cadets and faculty will require individual registrations. All other categories of attendees will be able to register a guest within the same registration profile. Your guest will receive a separate confirmation email with their registration.

This year’s symposium will not be live-streamed or accessible on a virtual platform. Speaker sessions will be professionally recorded and posted on the Academy’s YouTube page as on-demand content the week following NCLS. We encourage your attendance for live access to our world-class event, and we look forward to engaging with you in-person for NCLS.

Check-in for visiting students, visiting faculty, and community participants will be available in Arnold Hall according to the following schedule:

Early check-in will be available for Visiting Students: Feb.19 from 12:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.

Community and Distinguished Visitors: Feb. 20 from 6:30 am – 6:30 pm.
*Please note that U.S. Air Force Academy permanent-party members should register, but will not be required to check-in.

For the Cadet Wing and military guests:
Feb. 20: OCPs for day sessions, Service Dress required for symposium dinner
Feb. 21: OCPs

Civilians: Business casual for speaker sessions and business formal for symposium dinner

Airport transportation schedule will be released in January.

• Undergraduate Students (age 18 – 26) will be housed at no cost in the U.S. Air Force Academy cadet dormitories. Visiting students will be assigned a cadet escort and will room with that cadet in the cadet dormitories. The two academy dorms, Vandenberg and Sijan Hall, are co-ed dorms with shower facilities on each floor. While dormitories are co-ed, individual rooms and shower facilities are not. Rooms have either two or three residents.
• Faculty and Community Guests: View lodging options near the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The mission of the Center for Character and Leadership Development is “to serve the U.S. Air Force Academy by advancing character and leadership development in preparation for service to the nation.” These words encompass the broad range of activities for which the CCLD is responsible, which align with one of the Academy’s main goals to develop cadets into leaders of character.

Our vision is “to be the center of excellence for character and leadership development.” This vision statement points to our ultimate destination as a Center.

Our efforts directly impact the cadets who, upon finishing their studies at the Academy, enter the Air and Space Forces as quality leaders. With intentionality, we also help shape the leader developers who influence and inspire those future leaders by preparing them to live honorably, lift others, and elevate performance. We deliberately collaborate with external agencies and institutions to share and adopt best practices to accomplish our noble and high purpose in support of our nation. In short, we deeply and tangibly infuse character and leadership across the institution and beyond. Learn more

Access archived NCLS information – including video-on-demand playlists, photo galleries, programs, and testimonials – from past events.