Diane Osborne

Ralph Waldo Emerson - “The secret in education lies in respecting the student.”

The faculty and staff of the Civil Engineer and Services School continue to keep the curriculum responsive by listening closely to our customers in order to meet the needs of the Department of Defense and the nation that we serve. We continue to stay on the cutting edge of technology and business management practices, and our fundamental objective is to return the students to their assignments better prepared to do their jobs.

Highlights of FY08 are as follows:

• In support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, several military officers from the Civil Engineer and Services School voluntarily deployed in FY08 – Col. Barry Mines, Afghanistan, Jul 07-Jul 08; Capt. Robert Toney, Qatar, Feb-Sep 08; Capt. Ryan Novotny, Baghdad, May 08. Several more have left very recently – Capt. Elisabeth Leon, Oct 08; Capt. Patrick Kolesiak, Oct 08; and Capt. Adam Roberts, Nov 08. We give them our heartfelt thanks and wish those still deployed a healthy and safe return.
• We graduated more than 1,675 resident students in FY08 – the most resident students reached by CESS since 1997. The breakout of students is shown in the two pie charts below.

• We graduated another 1,900 students through satellite courses, on-sites, seminars, web, DVD, and the Environmental Education Center for a total of more than 3,600 students.
• The Civil Engineer and Services School offered two badge awarding courses, WMGT 101, Air Force Civil Engineer Basic, and WSVS 101, Services Initial Skills. The first several weeks of both courses are held in-residence at the schoolhouse and provide students with lessons needed to carry out their duties in their respective career fields. For the final seven academic days, students from both courses fly out together to the Silver Flag Exercise Site, Detachment 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron, Tyndall AFB FL. At Silver Flag, the AFIT staff and Silver Flag Cadre conduct Officer Field Education (OFE). OFE provides “hands-on” education to CE officers in force beddown, rapid runway repair, disaster preparedness, fire rescue, bare base assets, and command and control and to Services officers in the areas of Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources and command, control, and communication (Services Control Center operations). The CESS awarded CE badges to 114 CE officers and Services badges to 53 Services officers attending these courses in FY08.
• In guidance from the Air Force Civil Engineer, Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, the Departments of Engineering Management and Environmental Management were tasked with developing a course in Asset Management. The objective of the course is for each student to comprehend the functional and operational responsibilities of the Asset Management flight chief and the interdependence of the flight as a part of the base civil engineer team. Within a period of several months, an Education Working Group was held, the course was designed, and the first offering was held in September of 2008. More than 100 students were in attendance at this initial offering – the largest single resident class ever.
• During this period, the Department of Engineering Management developed its first “webinar” designed for students to become more familiar with Civil Engineer deployment missions and operations. The Civil Engineer Deployed Experience Seminar has already held three offerings which were broadcast via the web and Microsoft Live Meeting. More than 50 students have been able to listen and interact with recently deployed CEs sharing their deployed experience and lessons learned. Several more offerings are scheduled in upcoming months.
• The Department of Environmental Management designed and implemented two new courses during FY08 – WENV 350, Environmental Management System Auditing course and WENV 450, Environmental Impact Analysis Process course.
• The Environmental Education Center (EEC), a program that is part of the Civil Engineer and Services School, is responsible for ensuring that all USAF personnel involved with environmental programs have an opportunity to attend appropriate technical and management environmental education. The EEC assists in identifying educational requirements, locating or developing educational resources to satisfy those requirements, and providing financial resources for the student to attend the course. The EEC was able to provide funding for 333 students in FY08.

With another very successful year under our belts, we look forward to continued success in FY09!