Groves of academeAlabama guardsman makes good with homeland security masters degree

Published 16 October 2006

Lt. Col. Butters takes advantage of distance learning, DHS funding, to add value to the Guard’s emergency recovery efforts; Naval Postgraduate School provides great education at a good value in a stunning locale

This is what we call above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Dennis Butters of the Alabama National Guard is the first Alabamian to receive a masters degree in homeland security, and from the prestigious Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California no less. More than 120 students from military, law enforcement, and emergency agencies have completed the eighteen-month program since its inception in 2002.

Butters academic bona fides go without saying, but we would like to point out the way the program accomodated his busy schedule as director of military support for the Guard by letting him take classes on-line. He did have to travel to California every few months for presentations and interactive excercises, but this was a small burden, especially when one considers DHS paid for all of his tuition and travel expenses. No doubt the Guard will benefit from his studies as well. His thesis topic was the practical-minded “Deploying and Integrating the Alabama National Guard for Catastrophic Events.”

-read more in Lisa Horn’s Montgomery Advertiser report