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Defense cuts hit Air Force school; jobs at risk

49 civilian support staff  jobs at risk at Air Force Institute of Technology.

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By Barrie Barber, Staff Writer Updated 6:50 AM Monday, February 27, 2012

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force Institute of Technology faces the elimination of 49 civilian positions because of budget cuts at the graduate school, according to an Air Force official.

The across-the-board reductions will affect support staff, such as information technology specialists and secretaries, according to Col. Timothy J. Lawrence, commandant of the graduate school.

The Air Force will consider retirement requests throughout Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the final number could impact how many staff members at AFIT will stay or transfer elsewhere on base, he said. Those decisions will happen in April or later.

The Air Force expects to cut thousands of civilian personnel servicewide because of budget reductions.

“The one thing we do know is government resources are going to decrease,” Lawrence said. “For us to think we’re not going to have cuts is myopic.”

AFIT awards master’s degrees and doctorates in defense-focused studies, conducts scientific and national security-related classified research.

AFIT has 168 faculty members and 126 staff members today to serve Department of Defense students from military and civilian ranks, he said.

The colonel said he did not expect the job cuts to reduce the number of courses or research, but it was unclear if the staff reductions would limit the number of students admitted in the upcoming fall semester.

For the first time, the graduate school hopes to open its doors to 125 students from Department of Defense contractors this fall if AFIT can secure approval for the proposal, he said.

“We’re actually using this as motivation to get more partners and get more research to strengthen our program,” he said. “We have to change our business model. ... I think we can look at this to create more, new opportunities for AFIT that didn’t exist before.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, opposes personnel cuts at the storied institution, said spokesman Thomas A. Crosson.

“He would oppose cuts to Air Force education because it would harm the development of Air Force leaders and the future of our force structure,” Crosson said.

The graduate school has 817 students who are in residence and 2,641 Civilian Institute students, most of whom are enrolled in medical programs at universities nationwide.

AFIT offers continuing education courses to thousands more students through the School of Systems and Logistics, the Civil Engineering School and the Center for Cyberspace Research.

The graduate institution allows University of Dayton and Wright State University students to take classes at AFIT and vice versa.

While AFIT faces staff cuts, Lawrence noted the amount of research funding at the school has rocketed to nearly $20 million, a more than five-fold increase in the past decade through partnering agencies such as the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation.

In a historic change, AFIT also expects to hire a first-ever civilian chancellor to lead the military school, which traces its lineage to 1919 when it began as part of the U.S. Army, Lawrence said.

The new, civilian leader could be in place this summer on a five-year appointment.

With a civilian chancellor in control, the service wants the school’s leader to stay for longer than the typical one- to three-year tour of duty military commandants serve, the colonel said.

A longer stay at the helm of the school should give its leader more time to develop and carry out a strategic vision, he said.

The chancellor would have a say in hiring a civilian provost and report to an Air Force general, Lawrence added. The leadership posts would follow a similar model at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., officials said.

Turner introduced legislation last year with U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to set standards for the appointment of both military and civilian leadership at the school.

A House and Senate conference committee OK’d a modified version of the bill.

“We have been concerned that there be a smooth transition in quality and prestige at AFIT for the leadership position,” the congressman told the Dayton Daily News on Friday.

The legislation would require the school’s top leader be either the rank of at least an active-duty colonel or, in the case of a civilian, a retired Air Force brigadier general and meet academic and leadership requirements.

“This goal is to ensure that AFIT have the strongest advocacy possible at the top as we go into a potential BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure process),” Turner said. “We want to make sure the position maintains the full level of respect within the Air Force chain of command.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2363 or bbarber@DaytonDaily News.com.

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