Business & Government

Texas A&M Regents Approve Naming Of New Bush School Center For Grand Strategy

November 19, 2018

BUSH CAMPUS AERIAL

By Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service Staff

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents recently approved the naming of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy (CGS) at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

A 1971 graduate of Texas A&M University, Robert L. Albritton was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2015 by Gov. Greg Abbott. He served in the United States Air Force prior to beginning a distinguished career that included founding a number of diversified businesses, including Albritton Energy, Albritton Partners, and Mayfair Investments, where he is currently Chairman and CEO.

The CGS was established as an intellectual hub for the critical examination of American grand strategy, including supporting research that will take a fresh look at America’s grand strategic choices. Two of its primary goals are to foster dialogue between scholars and practitioners in the field and to help train a new generation of public servants to be grand strategic innovators.

Texas A&M University System Regent Robert L. Albritton. (Texas A&M System)
Texas A&M University System Regent Robert L. Albritton. (Texas A&M System)

Bush School Dean Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said the center will provide a unique opportunity for scholars, practitioners, and students to study the concepts involved in grand strategy research and implementation.

“Grand strategy as a concept is a way of looking at the plans, policies, and resource allocation decisions that define a nation’s effort to use the political, military, diplomatic, and economic instruments of power to advance its national interest,” Welsh said. “This new center at the Bush School gives our students a unique opportunity to study this academic discipline with our own faculty as well as experts from around the nation and the world. It also gives our two superb academic directors the chance to advance their own research and support the development of other grand strategy scholars. A greater bench is this field of study clearly benefits our nation over time.”

The center’s academic programs will be directed by two members of the Bush School’s Department of International Affairs. Associate Professor Jasen Castillo is the Evelyn and Ed F. Kruse ’49 Faculty Fellow. Prior to joining the Bush School, Castillo worked in the Department of Defense’s Planning Office and was an analyst at the RAND Corporation, where his research focused on military strategy, nuclear deterrence, and WMD terrorism. Associate Professor John Schuessler previously taught at the Air War College. His research emphases include democracy and war as well as American grand strategy.

The Center will officially launch on Nov. 28 with a presentation by Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s 16th Supreme Allied Commander Europe and 15th Commander of the U.S. European Command (2009-2013), Head of U.S. Southern Command (2006-2009), and former Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Visit the Bush School website for more information and to register for the event.


Media contact: Susan L. Robertson, 979-862-8845, srobertson@tamu.edu.

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