Retired four-star Gen. George Casey, the highest-ranking U.S. Army official from 2007-2011 and DU alumnus, will teach a two-week graduate-level course in the spring quarter.
The course, “Civil-Military Relations at a Time of War,” is set for March 26-April 6 at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
Enrollment consists of 34 graduate students and one undergraduate who registered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The course is a one-credit course.
Fried said students found out about Casey’s class after an announcement was made by Susan Rivera, Korbel’s director of Student Affairs.
“Folks are very excited to take his class and a lot got blocked out when trying to register,” said Fried.
According to Rivera, when a 15-person wait-list for the class opened up for registration, it filled almost immediately.
Fried said students interested in Casey’s curriculum are coming from international security, foreign policy and conflict resolution educational backgrounds.
Fried met Casey when he visited DU last October to talk about the problem of globalization and the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. Since then, he has worked directly with Casey and Dean of Korbel Christopher Hill to develop the schedule and curriculum for the former General’s course.
“I was asked by Dean Hill to oversee the syllabus and agenda-building project,” said Fried. “Dean Hill remember[ed] me from General Casey’s last visit, when I asked General Casey to administer the oath of office to me as an Air Force Reserve Officer. Dean Hill put me in contact with Casey and we’ve corresponded via email to coordinate his class and visit.”
Currently, Casey’s syllabus draft is still evolving.
“I made some suggestions to General Casey about topics for his course. Ultimately, he and a colleague from the Army War College decided on reading materials and topics to be discussed each of the six days he’ll be at Korbel,” said Fried.
Casey will talk about civil military relations on the first day of class, Fried said. In subsequent classes, Casey will draw examples from wars, ranging from the Civil War to both World Wars to present-day military presence in Afghanistan.
Along with his own two-week class, Casey will guest lecture in five separate classes, including U.S. National Security and Human Rights.
“The subjects of his guest lectures will depend on the class and professor,” Fried said. “They will center around his experiences and views. He knows his stuff and he doesn’t like to sugar-coat.”
As the 36th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army during six continuous years of war, Casey led a 1.1 million person organization with an annual budget of over $200 billion.
Over his tenure, he encouraged growth of the Army, instituted bonuses for officers, increased funding for soldier and family programs, improved care for wounded soldiers and surviving family members and drove down the stigma associated with behavioral counseling to help troops stressed by war.
Casey also improved leadership training for General Officer Corps, advanced changes in the Army’s business and decision -making processes, moved the Army onto a rotational deployment program and implemented improvements for the qualifications of the Army National Guard and Reserves.
While at DU, Casey also plans to meet with DU leadership, Korbel alums and those who have supported the program in the past as well as student security groups, said Fried.
This meeting process is part of a typical protocol when “big name” visitors come to DU.
“They like to be treated well, right?” said Harrison.
Casey’s time at DU is specifically geared toward Korbel students.
Fried said he is in talks with Korbel staff and administrators to plan something similar to Casey’s October visit during his two-week visit.
