Transforming Army Leader Development At The University Level

The United States Army’s Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) is responsible for developing and educating about three quarters of the new Army officers commissioned into service each year. Current and future strategic mandates necessitate sweeping cultural and professional reform by each of the 273 ROTC units educating these new officers, but few additional resources are available to them. These units are staffed by soldiers with little or no formal training as educators, and who are often unaware of university resources that could help them. Current recruitment heavily prioritizes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students who will lead the future Army’s increasingly technical and interdisciplinary career branches. Through analysis of relevant Army doctrine, educational research, and the challenges facing individual units, this document establishes recommendations for individual programs to achieve those changes in a way that enables creating the next generation of military leaders. These recommendations encompass the integration of new faculty, development of effective instructors, cultivating educational legitimacy, and mitigating the effects of Cadet Summer Training on unit continuity. Without effort to transform leader development at the level of each ROTC program, the Army’s strategic goals will not succeed.