Navy approves ROTC unit at ASU for 2010

The establishment of a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at ASU for fall 2010 was announced April 7 by Rear Adm. Cliff Sharpe during a visit to the university’s Tempe campus.

ASU’s application for a NROTC unit was approved by the Secretary of the Navy.

“We are looking forward to a long and productive relationship with Arizona State University,” says Sharpe, commander of the Naval Service Training Command headquartered at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.

Sharpe oversees the Navy and Marine Corps ROTC programs.

“Many of the new and expanded academic programs at ASU in the areas of languages and culture, the humanities, sustainability, critical languages, Earth and space exploration, computing and informatics, biodesign, engineering and aerospace engineering, and many others, are a good fit with the burgeoning and dynamic Naval ROTC program,” says ASU President Michael Crow. “We are appreciative of the important role that the military plays in protecting our nation, and it is with a great deal of excitement that we welcome the Navy to our university.”

ASU already is home to Air Force and Army ROTC programs, both of which are housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“This program will provide students not only with an excellent education, but will also prepare them to serve as officers in the Navy,” Crow says.

The NROTC program was established to educate and train qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy and Marine Corps. The NROTC scholarship program fills a vital need in preparing future officers for leadership and management positions in an increasingly technical Navy and Marine Corps.

A four-year NROTC scholarship features full tuition at a select college or university, all college or university educational fees, a stipend for text books, all uniforms, up to three summer training events and a subsistence allowance for each academic month.

Plans are to have teaching and administrative staffs in place by the summer of 2010 to support the arrival of students in August 2010.

While on the ASU campus, Sharpe and other NROTC leaders visited with Crow, in addition to deans and faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, and the College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation. They also met with the commanders of ASU’s Air Force and Army ROTC units and toured the campus, stopping at the Biodesign Institute, Decision Theater and the Flexible Display Center.

There are two other NROTC host units in the Southwest: at the University of Arizona, and the University of New Mexico. As a host, the units educate students from surrounding universities and community colleges.

More information about NROTC, including eligibility requirements and a list of colleges and universities, is available at the Web site https://www.nrotc.navy.mil.

More information about ASU is available through the Office of Student and Academic Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at 480-965-6506.