Prepared by: LT Andrew Poulin, USN, ’09 and Pat McConnell, ’02
Date: April 25, 2016

0750 - 0815: Call to Order / Opening Remarks – Spencer Johnson ’63, Chairman COCP

Administrative Opening Remarks, Spencer Johnson, '63 USN (Ret.)
The Chairman provided welcome remarks and thanked those for attending before holding a moment of silence for VADM Henry “Hank” Mustin, USN (Ret.). VADM Mustin’s funeral will be held 1000 Thursday morning April 28th at the Naval Academy Chapel.

Recognition of...
New Class Presidents: 1955, 1957 (as of June 2016), 1975, and 2005
Active Duty Class Presidents

Motion to approve minutes from Fall Meeting
Approved at 0752

Class of 1969 presents gavel to President of Class of 2016
MIDN 1/C Kellogg accepts on behalf of the Class of 2016

Thank you corporate sponsors
USAA, Historic Inns of Annapolis, Double Tree Hotel

8:15AM – 8:55AM:
Decade Breakout Meetings and Decade Rep Elections
Before the decade breakouts, it was noted that the 1980s and 1990s need to elect a new decade rep. LTJG Spivey, ’13 has already been elected the decade rep for the 2010s. It was also suggested that each class donate $10 to the NAAA fund in honor of VADM Mustin. Spencer Johnson closed his remarks by suggesting that during the decade breakouts, please consider if there is anything else the Alumni Association can do to assist your class or anything that they can improve on.

9:00AM – 10:00AM:
Superintendent Presentation – VADM Walter E. “Ted” Carter, Jr., USN
VADM Carter began his remarks by focusing on the Honor Concept Review that was initiated last year. He noted that the Academy honor team went back to the beginnings of the honor concept to understand the origins and the best way forward. Of particular importance was the Armitage Report, the most significant honor review of the Naval Academy; the report generated some important recommendations that had never been fully reviewed until now. The purpose of the review is to ensure the honor concept is doing what it was intended to do and if not, to make some course changes. To that end, Col. Art Athens, USMC (Ret.) ’78 and his team conducted a thorough review throughout the summer. VADM Scott Redd provided valuable takeaways including:

VADM Carter’s guiding principles for this review included that the honor concept must inspire midshipmen, it must educate them, and it must shape them and their thinking. The review included exploring the challenge of “informal counseling,” the composition of the Brigade Honor Board, evaluating the Brigade Honor Organization, redesigning the Honor website, Honor remediation/reevaluation/reappointment, future honor seminars for faculty/staff/coaches, among other topics. Look for an article in Shipmate soon to expound on this subject!

Alumni Parking Garage:
The two-story garage will add 60 more parking spots next to the Officer’s Club and Warden field. It will have handicap access with elevators.

Cyber Security Studies Building:
The Superintendent noted that the Academy is going to graduate roughly 30 seniors this year in cyber studies. There are now two core courses that midshipmen take in the cyber department. We just recently closed the contract for the cyber building on March 31, 2016 with Turner Construction for $106 million. The building will be adjacent to Nimitz and Rickover. Concept design will take place from now until Spring 2017 (no sight lines from Chapel dome, to Mahan will be changed. The building will include an operational SCIF with a 100-seat auditorium at the Top Secret-level. Breaking ground will occur in October 2016 and aiming for full operational capability for the fall of 2019. And it will be built flood-proof!

Football and Cyber:
The football team is going to the White House on Wednesday to receive the Commander’s in Chief Trophy. In addition, the White House asked the Naval Academy to bring the entire graduating class of cyber majors. The President will recognize the Academy’s cyber initiatives and achievements including the National Bug Bounty Program (Cyber Security Awareness Week Policy winner), “Hack the Yard,” and the Atlantic Council Cyber Student Challenge (2nd place winner). It’s been a phenomenal year for cyber and this year we are sending eight graduates into the cyber field after graduation.

Class of 2016 Scholars:
1 Rhodes Scholar, 1 Mitchell Scholar, 2 Truman Scholars, 3 Gates Scholars, and 1 Schwarzman Scholar, and 4 of 6 Naval Officer Olmsted scholars selected this year were Academy graduates. In addition, we are sending 20 other midshipmen to pursue graduate degrees after graduation.

International Education:
The superintendent made this one of his priorities when he arrived. His goal is to get to at least 500 international training opportunities per year. He detailed several examples of midshipmen including semesters abroad and outlined existing exchange arrangements the Naval Academy has with Canada, Chile, France, Colombia, Japan, and Portugal, among others. The Superintendent will be signing arrangements with Italy, Israel, and South Korea this upcoming summer. On the reverse side, the Naval Academy has roughly 12-18 foreign students at USNA at any given time.

Navy Sports
We have a lot of athletic accomplishments recently including clinching the overall N-star competition against Army, Men’s gymnastics going to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1989, Men’s Track and Field won the Patriot League Championships, and we sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Championship. In addition, we are #3 in the country for participation in D1 athletics and are posting a better than 65% winning percentage. Navy football had a tremendous 11-win season, and senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds received the inaugural Decatur Award and broke numerous NCAA records. Reynolds also won the Sullivan Award for recognition as the top amateur athlete in the country, which marked the first time in history the award was presented to a Midshipmen.

Service Assignment:
Class of 2016 assignment breakdown included 799 Navy and 264 Marine Corps officers. Roughly 40% of the class selected an aviation track, either Navy Pilot, Naval Flight Officer, or Marine Air. Also highlighted was the fact that we have 38 SEAL selectees this year; a high number based off of the success of Academy graduates in the program with over 90% success rate at BUD/S.

Conclusion:
Thank you for your support. I will continue to be very open about what we are doing here at the Academy. You will continue to see shipmate articles to push information on what we are doing.

Questions & Answers
Q: How does the sending of midshipmen to the Fleet for remediation work? Does the receiving ship know the reason the midshipman is reporting to their command?
A: Typically this is only an option for conduct cases. I work in close coordination with the CO and XO of the respective ship. The midshipman in question must impress the CO, and the CO will report directly back to me.

Q: Do you struggle with bringing in the right officers to serve at the Academy given the negative impacts on their career that some of them face in their communities?
A: Surface warfare continues to be a strong supporter. We have seen great improvement among Marines and Submariners. Aviation is still a large concern and senior leadership is aware of the issue. I must emphasize that the Naval Academy is still getting highly qualified and motivated individuals from all communities, but some may be choosing to serve at the Naval Academy with the understanding that they may not be competitive for promotion or for department head.

Q: What do you say to people who say, “Why still have a Naval Academy? Why not send people to ROTC or another cheaper institution instead?”
A: I talk to 1-2 congressional leaders a week and we get into this discussion frequently. USNA has a much lower attrition rate, <2% academic attrition rate. USNA also has the lowest attrition rates compared to West Point and the Air Force Academy. We are a tremendous return on the taxpayer dollar, we have significant promotion rates to O-6, and Naval Academy graduates have won all 6 categories of the Stockdale award for the last 3 years.

Q: With the diverse backgrounds of officers coming to the Naval Academy, do you find it difficult for them to understand and buy-in to the honor system?
A: Faculty, both civilian and military, fully embraces the honor concept. We have to foster trust between the midshipmen and the faculty

Q: What’s working well with sports at the Academy?
A: 98% passed the PRT this spring, Club/intramural/varsity sports are all doing well, and most importantly, Field Ball is back!

1015-1115: Alumni Association Panel
**A notes page will be pushed from the Alumni Association to the classes with more details from this segment of the meeting

Update from Bill Dawson:
Bill Dawson began by recognizing VADM Henry Mustin and the impact he made on our alma mater, service, and country. Bill then went on to discuss the Alumni Return on Mission (ROM) with respect to the Annual Fund. Important initiatives include Honoring our Fallen Heroes (next event will likely be at the Navy-UConn football game this fall), DGA program annual ceremony, AMP program expansion, USNA 40 years of women at the Naval Academy, scholar programs, Brigade battalion receptions, chapter awards, I-Day and Plebe Parent’s Weekend support, parents programs support, and updated travel program support.

Some important notes: We need more candidates for the Distinguished Graduate Awards. Do not think you are too junior to submit a nomination. The “Another Link in the Chain” is a growing program and is doing good things for both the younger classes and the sponsoring classes. The Alumni Mentoring Program (AMP), led by the Class of 1969, has over 1600 members and over 500 total mentor-protégé matches. AMP wants more active-duty graduates to register as mentors to pair up with midshipmen protégés before the Mids graduate. 2016 is the first class to pair up graduates with a mentor before graduation. 2015 was a great year for reunions; 15 classes held reunions with over 7500 people in attendance. The idea was suggested that classes look into doing mini-reunions, particularly at away games. Some classes have done these gatherings in the past and they have been very successful. The Service Academy Career Conference (SACC) is a great forum to find information on future opportunities. The next SACC will be held in Washington, D.C. on May 5/6 and will host over 300 companies. With respect to USNAAA Membership, we add 1700 new members each year, lifetime memberships are still the most popular, and we are seeing astronomical growth in the parents demographic.

**Continue to work with your class on updating everyone’s mailing addresses and e-mail addresses. For e-mail, some classes increased their class reachability by 20% in only a year. Some classes are experiencing a drop-off, particularly younger classes getting up to a transition point. The Alumni Association can provide a class list to you of names/addresses/e-mails if desired.

Update from Kristin Pironis (Director of Communications):
Thank you for your shared stories from our last meeting. Please continue to share your stories with the Alumni Association and Shipmate staff. There are a lot of opportunities to publish stories (Wavetops, Shipmate, etc). We want you to share your ideas!

Kristin wanted to focus most of her remarks on Shipmate, particularly the Focus group and survey results. The survey showed that 84% of graduates always or mostly read shipmate, 58% read at least half of the magazine, 82% are satisfied with the current frequency of shipmate, and the quality of the magazine earned a 8.2 rating out of 10 which is much higher when compared to similar alumni magazines throughout the country. It’s good but we can still improve! The most read sections of Shipmate were Class News, featured articles, and Last Call. The least read sections were the classifieds and staff member assistance. The next steps for Shipmate include reviewing the survey in greater depth with the Board of Trustees, partnering with a design team to improve design WRT survey feedback, have a fall webinar with class and chapter secretaries, and launch the new and improved Shipmate in Jan 2017. Other items on the horizon include a retool of the www.usna.com website, invest in video (USNAAA has a YouTube channel!), and further integrate social media.

Treasurer’s Report by Gerrie Farmer (Comptroller)
Currently, we have a deficit in assets of $1.3 million, however that is mostly market-driven with a recent market decrease of approximately $6 million. For liabilities, we showed a slight decrease, and have no outstanding debt currently. Net assets showed a $1.3 million change in net assets from $227 to $226 million. Approximately 17% of the budget is dependent on investment income ($36.7 million). The Annual fund is down compared to last year, partly due to a large request that was processed last year. The Annual Fund has a $800,000 budget for this year. Overall, we are 4% total expenses over budget, with $1.3 million deficit, but we are managing it and expect to close the gap by the end of the fiscal year. Year to date summary: robust contributions, unrealized investment income loss, challenge to meet Annual Fund goal, realized investment gains under executing budget, expenses driven by campaign investments (CRM, consultants, full staff).

Update from Jamie Wolff (Information Services Director)
The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System is a software suite that will manage all of your Academy records. The new system will be more mobile-friendly. Initially, it was anticipated for a spring rollout, now looking like summer 2016. Ogle Hall also recently replaced and upgraded their audio-visual system and added the ability to hold virtual meetings. This could greatly aid in reunion planning. Also continuing to build a mobile capability for small groups (less than 100).

Update from Captain Ed Wallace, USN (Ret.) (Director Foundation and Scholarship Program)
We provide athletic support to USNA/NAAA. Examples include a $5M “leadership gift” to stadium, a $1M gift for Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, and $800K for a workout facility and locker room at NAPS. We also provide support to club and intramural sports programs. Planning for $1.893M in program support for athletics in FY16. The Prep School Scholarship Program provides opportunities for ~50-60 students per year to attend one of 19 affiliated prep schools (3 military, 16 civilian). Prep schools provide alternate options to not only further academic skills but to also play sports that may not be offered at NAPS. Class Reunion Gift Update- 19 classes have stepped up and made a part of their class project athletic excellence support. Goal is $5.67 million and we have had $5.65 million in commitments.

Update from Rich Goldsby (Associate Director- Class Giving)
Provided an overview of completed class projects: 1965- Bill the Goat statue at the Stadium, 1975- Center for Ethics and Leadership Support, 1985- raised money for Cyber internships, 1995- supported international programs. Currently, we are in the middle of a comprehensive campaign. The duration is from 7/1/2012 through 6/30/2020. Any donations or commitments within this time count towards the campaign. So far we have raised over $197M towards our goal of $400M. We are right on track! 38 projects have or will support the campaign. Completed and ongoing projects have raised $9.5M. Rich also discussed the overall Class Project Process. He will hold a fundraising workshop the day after this meeting in Annapolis for class officers or fundraising representatives. The All Academy Challenge 2016 will take place 1-7 June.

1130-1200:
Athletic Association report by Chet Gladchuk (Navy Athletic Director)
This is an exciting time for Navy Sports! Keenan Reynolds was amazing this year with all of his records and has represented the Naval Academy superbly. Reynolds was the first midshipman to have his jersey retired while still a midshipman. He’s leaving but we still have a lot of good players for next year and we are going to surprise a lot of people. Coach Ken, the winningest coach in Navy history, is coming back! We were co-champions in the West division of the AAC last year. We have a good strength of schedule; four teams in the division were in the top 25 last year. Navy-Notre Dame game this year will be in Jacksonville, FL. Army-Navy game will be in Baltimore, MD. If your class needs tickets to a game and is having difficulty, get in touch with the AD’s office and they will help you out. The 2018 Navy-Notre Dame game will be in San Diego, and will be in the Meadowlands in 2020. Looking for a game in Ireland sometime after 2020. Army-Navy game request for proposals (RFP) will be sent out in the next few weeks to cities interested in hosting the game in the future.

36 classes have given money to the renovation of Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Chet explained his sincere gratitude for these gifts and emphasized the impact that these gifts have had. We need to have these gifts sustained so we can keep the stadium looking the way it is now. A renovation of Ricketts hall is coming. The renovation will benefit more than just varsity athletes and please consider if your class would want to be part of this effort. Other projects underway include placing a large scoreboard in the South end of the stadium, a new golf course short course facility, Lejeune wrestling room is being renovated, the basketball section of Halsey is in the midst of a renovation, we are finishing the rugby complex, baseball dugouts, lacrosse offices, and the Terwilliger center. Chet then conducted a virtual tour of the construction/renovation project for Halsey/Ricketts. Ultimately, we are winning over 65% of our games and maintaining a graduation rate that is top 10 in the country.

Questions & Answers
Q: How would we pay for sending the brigade to a different city for Army-Navy games?
A: The RFP is very specific. If we can’t bus them then the city needs to fly the brigade there (roughly $3.5-4M cost). We will not go anywhere that we cannot transport the brigade without the support of the city.

Q: What is the timeline for approval of renovation project at Ricketts/Halsey
A: In 2 weeks we will submit to Navy for approval within the next 8 months. The historical society has already signed off.

Q: Will the new buildings be open to the public?
A: Yes. It will be used for recruiting but also be open to the public.

1300-1400:
Andrew Phillips (Academic Dean and Provost)
Dean Phillips opened with a history of academics at USNA, focusing on changes following the Folsom Report in 1959 and the introduction of academic majors, a renewed emphasis on professor quality, and other reforms. The first academic dean was appointed in 1964; at that time only 1/3 of professors had a Ph.D. and most military professors lacked any advanced degree. Today, only two civilian professors are without their Ph.D.; one is soon retiring, and the other has begun her program (in Arabic). All military professors have at least a masters degree. The Professional Military Professor (PMP) program, which provides for 50 officers (arrive as O-5, retire as O-6) is a resounding success and requires a doctorate.

Dean Phillips discussed at length the success of the Cyber program, and the hurdles overcome in its development and execution. Specifically, no majors program existed at an undergraduate institution at the time, and any similar programs were deficient in significant ways for what is necessary at USNA. Two brigade-wide courses, 27 midshipmen graduating with major.

Next major effort is in language. Seven languages are offered now, including two as majors. This corresponds with immersion programs and other international opportunities. Problem now is that language policy only applies to ~1/3 of midshipmen — Group 3 majors — and those midshipmen can “place out” of the courses by testing. Broadening this requirement would involve trade-offs from elsewhere in the academic program, and it’s not immediately obvious how that could occur now.

1415-1515:
Decade Breakout Recap and Wrap-Up
Issue Paper – Walt _________
Walt provided background on Board of Trustees before discussing issues addressed in Issue Paper 2-2015. Briefly, the sub-issues:

  1. Remove requirement for chair / vice-chair to be decade rep
  2. Change composition of nominating committee for council officers. (Current is decade reps.)
  3. Disallow consecutive terms for council officers. (no limits now. 3 yrs for decade reps, no more than 2 consecutive terms.)
  4. Set terms of office for council officers without links to decade reps

The Committee’s view is that COCP’s by-laws can be changed, and changed much more easily than that of the Board of Trustees. Also, sub-issue #1 is the primary driver for the other three sub-issues. A vote on this issue will be held in Fall 2016; next COCP elections are in Spring 2017.

1930s, 40s, 50s: CAPT William H. Peerenboom, USN (Ret) '57

1960s, CAPT Spence Johnson USN (Ret.)‘60

1970s, Vince Valderama ‘78

1980s, Steve Pimpo ‘85

1990s, Min-tu Ngyuen ‘99

2000s + 2010s Major "Murph" McCarthy, USMC ‘00

Meeting Adjourned
Meeting adjourned at 1457.

Updated: October 03, 2018
Curator: Ed Moore