For the fifth consecutive year, DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies welcomed retired Army Gen. George Casey Jr. for the first two weeks of the spring quarter. Casey, who received his master’s from the Korbel School (then the Graduate School of International Studies) in 1980, served as chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 2007–11. He previously served as commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, overseeing a coalition of more than 30 countries. A strong advocate of the importance of effective communications between the military and civilians within the government, particularly during wartime, Casey began teaching a graduate-level course on civil-military relations at the Korbel School in 2012.
“In that class I do three 20th-century case studies and two 21st-century case studies,” Casey says. “The whole idea is to assist the students in developing a framework so they can judge the effectiveness of civil-military relations as we go forward. That’s important because the solutions to today’s problems aren’t exclusively military. You need defense, but also diplomacy and development. And these young men and women who are studying international security have got to be able to figure out how to blend civil-military responses and actions if we’re going to bring all the power of the United States to bear in solving these very difficult problems.”
In addition to teaching his course, Casey was a guest lecturer to classes on conflict resolution and civil protection during armed combat. He also advised the Korbel School’s annual Crisis Engagement and Negotiation Exercise and spoke about strategic leadership to students in the Daniels College of Business Executive MBA program.
To cap off this year’s visit to DU, Casey presented the General George W. Casey Jr. Endowed Scholarship for Distinguished Military Veterans to Korbel School graduate student John Shattuck. The scholarship — funded by donors Craig Harrison, Nicole Harrison and Craig Harrison, and matched by the University’s scholarship funds — provides financial assistance to a Korbel School graduate student who has served in the U.S. armed forces, exhibits exemplary leadership qualities and demonstrates academic merit and/or financial need.
Shattuck retired as a U.S. Marine Corps captain in 2014 after serving as a ground intelligence officer in multiple locations, including Afghanistan. After deciding to pursue a career in which he could continue to serve the U.S. government in a security-related position, Shattuck enrolled in the Korbel School to pursue a master’s degree in international security. In addition to his coursework, Shattuck studies the Russian language and volunteers at the Colorado Children’s Hospital in the oncology ward.