Naval Postgraduate School

The Naval Postgraduate School (aka:"NPS") is part of the grounds and buildings of the Del Monte Hotel, which was a deluxe vacation site for the wealthy, and later, the Hollywood entertainment elite (1885-1943). It was then leased by the U.S. Navy, as a center for pre-flight training, and other training programs, during World War Two. After the war, the Pye commission made recommendations for advanced training programs to maintain the scientific edge that the U.S. had obtained during WW2. Sites were "scouted-out" and the hotel and surrounding acreage was purchased from the Del Monte Property Association, for US $ 2.13 million. In 1951, the "School" was brought out west to California, from the US Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland. Navy secretary George Meyer started the school in naval engineering, attached to the Academy,(with general order No.27, June 9th 1909) and with general order No.233, (Oct. 31st 1912) this school was expanded to a Postgraduate Department. Many of the students of this school, went on to advanced degrees at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. At the new facility, at Monterey, a broad range of scientific subjects were/are taught to members of all the Armed Forces, and which included many foreign students and staff, in conjunction with the Defense Language Institute (at the old Monterey Presidio Army base), and the U.S. Army base at Fort Ord. Also in the area is Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station (History: http://www-marine.stanford.edu/history.htm) with many world-class (visiting, and resident) professors, who are regularly invited to lecture at NPS. The early 1960s saw the installation of a large mainframe computer center, to try and model long range weather (the goal was for at least a two week forecast) for the US 7th Fleet, and their operations throughout the Pacific Ocean. With the closure of Fort Ord in the mid 1990s, there was pressure to close the school and relocate elsewhere, due to the high cost of living on the central California coast. This has been delayed indefinitely, and both the Defense Language Institute (DLI) and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) are operating with expanded budgets, in line with the increased defense spending of 2001-2004. Please see the Department of the Navy's many sites on NPS, but especialy www.nps.edu/hertitage. Sean Folsom, resident , Carmel Valley, California.

UPDATE: August 26th 2005: The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (B.R.A.C.),decided to make recommendations to keep the Naval Postgraduate School (N.P.S.), and the Defense Language Institute (D.L.I.) open, and based, in Monterey, California. The N.P.S. will be put under a consolidated board governing both N.P.S. and the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (A.F.I.T.), located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio. The two schools will coordinate curricula, and expand programs that put graduate students of the armed forces, at civilian universities. The DLI , because of its language mission, will remain independent of this new board. Congress will have a 45 day grace period to reject the BRAC list, and if they do not reject it, the BRAC list will pass into law. The governing board will be made up of advisors from the Secretary of Defense Department, the Secretary of Education Dept., and equal numbers of advisors from NPS, and AFIT. This new board will be located in the Washington D.C. area, and will report directly to the Secretary of Defense. Affordable housing in the Monterey area remains a problem, for students and staff. It is hoped that new pre-fab houses can be built on NPS/DLI property, at the former Fort Ord Army Base. Current student enrollment at NPS: 1,483 ; AFIT: 900 ; DLI : 3,700. NPS faculty: 240 tenured and tenure tracked. Staff 367 part and full timers. AFIT faculty and staff approx. 500. DLI faculty and staff: 1,250. Sean Folsom in Carmel Valley Ca.

Contact details

Public Affairs Office – Code 004
1 University Circle
Monterey, CA 93943
Phone: (831) 656-2023
Fax: (831) 656-3238
Web: http://www.nps.edu