Jeffrey L. Fowler (born May 25, 1956) is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

who served as the 60th

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Building superintendent, a manager, maintenance or repair person, custodian or janitor, especially in the United States; sometimes shortened to "super" *Prison warden or superintendent, a prison administrator *Soprin ...

of the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

until his retirement in August 2010.

Early life and career

Born in May 1956 and raised in

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck (; from 1872 to 1873: Edwinton) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat, seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, Burleigh County. It is the state's List of cities i ...

, he received his commission from the

in 1978. Following a successful interview with Admiral

Hyman G. Rickover Hyman G. Rickover (27 January 1900 – 8 July 1986) was an admiral in the United States Navy. He directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reacto ...

, he was subsequently trained in the Navy's

nuclear propulsion Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Many aircraft carriers and submarines currently use uranium fueled nuclear reactors that can provide propulsio ...

and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

programs. Fowler served at sea as a junior officer aboard , as Engineer Officer for , and as

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

for the Pre-commissioning Unit and . He commanded and Submarine Squadron Three, responsible for eight nuclear-powered fast attack submarines. Fowler has deployed to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

oceans, and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. Ashore, Fowler served as a submarine tactics instructor at Naval Submarine Training Center, Pacific; as a junior member on the Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board on the staff of the commander in chief,

U.S. Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Sta ...

; as the head, Submarine Programs Section of the Programming Division (N80) on the staff of the

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

; deputy executive assistant to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (N8) and the vice chairman,

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...

; the Pacific submarine force prospective commanding officer instructor; and as the executive assistant to the commander,

U.S. Strategic Command The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for strategic nuclear ...

Flag officer

Following selection to

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

, Fowler served as commander, Navy Recruiting Command and director, Naval Europe/Sixth Fleet plans and operations; deputy commander,

United States Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixt ...

; Commander Submarines, Allied Naval Forces South; commander, Submarine Group 8; and commander, Task Forces 164/69. Fowler relieved Vice Admiral

Rodney P. Rempt Rodney Paul Rempt (born June 13, 1945)Biography and Genealogy Master Index. is a retired Vice Admiral of the United States Navy who served as the 59th Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy from 2003 to 2007. Biography Rempt was raised in the L ...

as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy on June 8, 2007. In August 2007, Fowler unveiled new plans for the Naval Academy, stating that the school was focusing too much on extracurriculars. Some of the new changes include mandatory study time each night for all midshipmen, secured all weekday liberty (which seniors had Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and Juniors Tuesday and Friday), and mandatory meals Sunday night through Friday night. Fowler stressed, however, that the academy was not in a state of emergency, and that these changes were merely to keep the recent graduates ready to enter into wartime service. He cast the changes as having more to do with preparing future Navy and Marine officers for wartime duty than with cracking down on misbehavior.

We are a nation at war," he said. "If any campus should understand being a nation at war, it's the United States Naval Academy.

Retirement

Fowler stepped down as superintendent of the Naval Academy in August 2010 (30 days earlier than his scheduled relief) amidst controversy over financial irregularities at the academy as well as multiple honor-code violations by USNA midshipmen. He was succeeded by in this post by Vice Admiral

Michael H. Miller Michael Harold "Mike" Miller (born 9 July 1952) is a former Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, and was the first active-duty officer to direct the White House Military Office. He was the 61st Superintendent of the United States Naval Acad ...

. His wife, Katie Fowler, is sponsor of the new

Virginia-class submarine The ''Virginia'' class, or the SSN-774 class, is a class of nuclear-powered attack submarine with cruise missile capability in service with the United States Navy. The class is designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions, ...

. In April 2021, Golden Key Group announced Fowler's promotion to president of the Reston, Virginia-based professional services company.

Education

*1978

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

, Annapolis, Maryland *1985

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree,

Chaminade University of Honolulu Chaminade University of Honolulu is a private Marianist university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Founded in 1955 by the Society of Mary, Chaminade is located in Kaimuki, Honolulu at the base of St. Louis Heights. Chaminade offers bachel ...

, Honolulu, Hawaii *1990

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

degree,

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Cambridge, Massachusetts *2002 National Security Studies,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, Syracuse, New York *2003 Fellow,

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

, New York, New York

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Jeffery 1956 births United States Navy vice admirals United States Naval Academy alumni People from Bismarck, North Dakota Chaminade University of Honolulu alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Syracuse University alumni Living people Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Superintendents of the United States Naval Academy