Noting that two of his predecessors as director of NSA were NIU alumni, as are several of the current senior leaders of that agency, he was quite familiar with the caliber of NIU’s graduates and paid special tribute to the faculty for the rigor of their instruction.Īlexander was among several IC notables who spoke at the ceremony marking the culmination of NIU’s 52nd year.
He ended confidently, declaring that “the nation is in good hands” with the future leaders graduating from NIU.Īlexander retired in March 2014 after a 30-year military career, which included service as director of the National Security Agency from 2005-2014 and as the first commander of U.S. He called for their perseverance, to never back down and never stop protecting and defending the nation. As future leaders, he urged them “to stand up for their people” and to have the “vision to change and make the IC better.” The retired general stressed the importance of education, noting that as advances in technology double every two years, students were being educated today for jobs that do not yet even exist. “You will be leading the intelligence community in providing the information policymakers will need to make good decisions for our nation.” “This is a dangerous time for the nation,” said Alexander. national security challenges ranging from the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq to unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine.Ĭiting terrorism as their biggest challenge, Alexander charged the students to protect the country, according to an article posted on the DIA’s own Web site.
Keith Alexander in his address to the National Intelligence University Class of 2014 on July 25, as he listed U.S. There are only five freshmen in the program this year, but Flanagan said she’s hoping for about 25 next year.įlanagan also said the NIU College Connection program was adopted by the central region of Golden Key, which includes 26 chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin.“We need you,” said retired Army Gen. “The mentoring program makes it much more personal,” Flanagan said. The third phase is a type of mentoring program for NIU freshmen where Golden Key members help freshmen to ease their transition into college. In the second phase, high school students are brought to NIU and allowed to go to classes, social events and sporting events, Flanagan said. “If we influence anyone to continue his education, we’ve met our goal,” Flanagan said. “We want to provide as much information as possible for viable educational opportunities,” she said. She said the talks do not necessarily promote four-year universities, but also junior colleges, technical schools and military opportunities. Last year, Golden Key members spoke at DeKalb and Sycamore High Schools.įlanagan said the talks can be geared to a certain student group or students in general. The first phase involves speaking at local high schools on furthering education.
In addition, for the third year in a row, the NIU chapter was one of 28 to receive the Key Chapter Award from the national society.Ĭollege Connection is a program geared at encouraging high school students to continue their education, Cory Flanagan, faculty adviser, said.įlanagan said the program is worked in three phases and the chapter is currently in the third phase of its first year of College Connection. The NIU chapter of the Golden Key National Honor Society presented its newest program, College Connection, at a national Golden Key Honor Society convention in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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