Naval Academy Faculty and Staff,
As we prepare for the busy next few months leading up to graduation and commissioning, I wanted to announce to you that the Naval Academy has updated its mission statement to align it with the Academy’s historical commitment to graduate leaders to serve the nation.
During the most recent strategic planning process, our Academy Senior Leadership Team debated the merits of adding an explicit reference to “leaders” or “leadership” in order to better highlight the emphasis that USNA places on developing leaders. I forwarded our recommendation to include an explicit reference to “leaders” up the chain-of-command. On March 13 the Secretary of the Navy, The Honorable Donald Winter, approved the following refinement to the Academy’s mission statement, substituting the words “provide graduates who are dedicated to a career of naval service” to “graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service.” The updated mission statement is:
“To develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.”
While the recommendation and decision to refine the mission statement are not taken lightly, I believe the Academy’s history reflects the evolutionary and dynamic nature of our mission statements. That history shows a continual effort to more accurately reflect the Academy’s stated mission, and how that mission is aligned to support the Department of the Navy and the nation.
More information will be forthcoming regarding the implementation of the updated mission statement.
Our success in graduating leaders to serve the nation is directly attributable to the fine young men and women we admit to the Academy and the dedicated efforts of the staff, faculty, and coaches to prepare these future leaders for the challenges of an increasingly interdependent and volatile world. I appreciate your commitment to our mission and ask that you continue to inspire our Midshipmen to achieve moral, mental, and physical excellence.
Respectfully,
VADM Jeffrey Fowler
Superintendent
