Dale Center for the Study of War and Society
Military Officer Training
Page Content
The Dale Center is proud to be educating the next generation of officers for the U. S. military. Leading military educational institutions like the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Air Force’s Air War University have entrusted the Dale Center to educate the officers who will go on to teach the leaders of tomorrow’s U.S. armed forces. Offices are "stationed" at Southern Miss for a set time and their assignment is to complete either a Masters or PhD degree (or both).
For more information about this program or to start the application process, please contact Dr.%20Heather%20Stur.
Current Students:
Captain Andrew J. Leib IV (MA/PhD student, Southern Miss), U.S. Army
Current Assignment: U.S. Army Student Detachment with follow-on assignment as Instructor
of Military History in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Captain Leib's dissertation research interests include the study of the history of
U.S. Army strategy and preparation for large-scale combat operations in the 19th and
20th centuries.
Captain Travis Salley (PhD Candidate, Southern Miss), U.S. Army
Current Assignment: Instructor of Military History in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Captain Salley's dissertation research focuses on U.S. military marching cadences and their impact on military culture through a racial and gendered lens. He is studying under the direction of Dr. Heather Stur.
Captain Daniel Driss (PhD Candidate, Southern Miss), U.S. Army
Current Assignment: History Fellow assigned to the William E. Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Captain Driss is developing his dissertation on the interwar U.S. Army through the life of Lieutenant General Lloyd Fredendall under the direction of Dr. Andrew Wiest.
Major James M. Berry (PhD Candidate, Southern Miss), U.S. Army
Current Assignment: Instructor of Military History in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Major Berry is developing his dissertation on the transformation and reform of Army logistics between the Spanish-American War and the end of the First World War: 1898-1918 under the direction of Dr. Andrew Wiest. Berry received a 2022 Omar N. Bradley Officer Research Fellowship in History. The fellowship recognizes Army officers who are actively completing scholarly research. Berry received the award in order to complete archival research in both Washington, D.C. and at the Quartermaster Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia as part of his dissertation project.
Graduates:
2nd Lieutenant T. Michael DeFazio (MA, Southern Miss, 2021), U.S. Air Force
Current Assignment: Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot training in Wichita Falls, TX
2nd Lieutenant DeFazio recently completed his MA thesis "For Cause and Countries: Initial, Sustaining, and Combat Motivation in the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons, 1940-1942" under the direction of Dr. Andrew Wiest. DeFazio was recognized as a Distinguished Graduate from the United States Air Force Academy in 2020 (BS History), with further recognition through the Richard Ira Bong Award as the outstanding cadet in military history.
Lt. Colonel Joel Bius (PhD, Southern Miss, 2015), U. S. Air Force
Current Assignment: Headmaster at Eastwood Christian School, Montgomery, AL
Lt. Colonel Bius completed his dissertation "The Soldier and the Cigarette: 1918–1986" under the direction of Dr. Louis Kyriakoudes. Col. Bius turned the dissertation into a book, Smoke Em If You Got Em: The Rise and Fall of the Military Cigarette Ration, in 2018. Before retiring, Col. Bius served as Director of Instruction of the Joint Warfighting Department and Assistant Professor of National Security Studies at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College. At Air University, he taught joint warfighting core courses, as well as electives on the history of American Military Culture and the history of vice in the military.
Major Richard Lovering (MA, Southern Miss, 2017), U.S. Army
Current Assignment: Instructor of History in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point
Major (then Captain) Lovering completed his thesis "Sir Robert Thompson’s Better War: The British Advisory Mission and the South Vietnamese Strategic Hamlet Program, 1961–1963" under the direction of Dr. Andrew Wiest. At West Point, he teaches the course "History of the Military Art" to cadets.
The Dale Center is proud to have educated several military offices who went on to various assignments after their time in Hattiesburg:
- David Martin (MA, Southern Miss, 2016), U. S. Air Force
Thesis: "Mr. Jefferson's Army in Mr. Madison's War: Atrophy, Policy, and Legacy in the War of 1812." Committee Chair: Dr. Kyle F. Zelner
- Samuel Howard Ward (MA, Southern Miss, 2014), U. S. Air Force
Thesis: "Jackson's Flying Dutchmen: The Significance of the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School." Committee Chair: Dr. Andrew Wiest
- Aaron Edward Foster (MA, Southern Miss, 2013), U. S. Air Force
Thesis: "Inconspicuous but Indispensable: Charles Anderson Dana as Assistant Secretary of War." Committee Chair: Dr. Susannah J. Ural
- Andrew Howard Walters (MA, Southern Miss, 2003), U. S. Air Force
Thesis: "Initiative in Command: The Learning Curve in the British Army during World War I." Committee Chair: Dr. Andrew Wiest
