Rokke Simon Chair
The Rokke / Simon Chair in the Simon Center for Strategic Studies was named in honor of Dr. Ervin J. Rokke (Lt Gen, USAF, Retired), and Mr. William E. Simon. Dr. Ervin J. Rokke has a 35 year long military career, during which he served as everything from the defense attaché in the Soviet Union to the President of the National Defense University. Mr. William E. Simon was a member of the U.S. Army, a best-selling author, and was appointed the 63rd Secretary of the Treasury in 1974, serving as such until 1977.
Lt. Gen. Ervin J. Rokke
Lieutenant General Ervin J. Rokke began his storied, expansive military career with the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1962, going on to earn his Ph.D. in international relations from Harvard University. During his 35 year military career, he served in many roles, including as the defense attaché in the Soviet Union, Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence and serving several tours on the faculty of the Air Force Academy before being selected as Dean of Faculty.
Dr. Rokke’s last Air Force active duty assignment was as President of the National Defense University. Dr. Rokke retired with the rank of Lieutenant General, after which he served for nine years as President of Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. He also served as the President of the USAFA Endowment and completed a two year assignment as occupant of the Superintendent’s Chair for Character and Leadership Development at the Academy, and holds the rank of professor emeritus of Political Science.
Dr. Rokke is a member of the Defense Intelligence Agency Attaché Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Jan Masaryk Medal of Achievement from the Czech Republic in 2006, and holds honorary degrees from Muhlenberg and Moravian Colleges in Pennsylvania and the Defense Intelligence College in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Intelligence Science Board, the Advisory Council for the Education and Training Center of the United States Institute of Peace and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is co-chairman of the Board of Visitors for the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.
Mr. William Edward Simon
William Edward Simon served in the U.S. Army and earned a B.A. in government and law from Lafayette College in 1952. That same year, he joined Union Securities. Additionally, he served as Vice President of Weeden & Company before becoming senior partner in charge of the Government and Municipal Bond departments at Soloman Brothers.
In 1974, President Nixon appointed him 63rd Secretary of the Treasury, a post to which he was re-appointed by President Ford and held until 1977. Following his time in the government, Mr. Simon co-founded Wesray Corporation and WSGP International. In 1988, he established William E. Simon & Sons, a global merchant bank. During his remarkable career, Mr. Simon served on the boards of over 30 companies including Xerox, Citibank, Halliburton and United Technologies.
Mr. Simon was an active member of the United States Olympic Committee for over 30 years. He served as Treasurer before going on to serve as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Mr. Simon was a passionate philanthropist who considered the opportunity to serve those less fortunate than he a God-given privilege and responsibility.
Mr. Simon was committed to the American heritage of constitutional government and private enterprise. He sought to strengthen this heritage during his 23-year tenure as President of the John M. Olin Foundation and as a trustee of several think tanks, including The Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution. He was the author of two best-selling books on the theme of freedom, A Time for Truth (1978) and A Time for Action (1980).
Current Distinguished Visiting Professor
Dr. Kris A. Bauman
Assistant Professor of Political Science
United States Air Force Academy
Dr. Kris A. Bauman
Dr. Bauman teaches American Government, American Foreign & National Security Policy, Middle East Politics, Comparative Politics, Causes of War, and Religion and Politics at the United States Air Force Academy.
From April 2017 to June 2018, he served at the White House on the National Security Council as the Senior Director for Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Egyptian Affairs.
Prior to the NSC, he was a Senior Military Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies and an adjunct professor at the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, both at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
In 2013-2014, during the negotiations led by Secretary of State John Kerry between Israelis and Palestinians, Bauman was the Chief of Staff for the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, General John R. Allen, USMC, retired. Gen Allen’s team was responsible for the security portfolio of a proposed two-state agreement.
Prior to his arrival at NDU, Colonel Bauman was deployed to Iraq (2011-12) where he specialized in interagency cooperation and international partnership. The first half of his time was with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) and the second half was with the Office of Security Cooperation, Iraq (OSC-I).
Before his time in Iraq, he was at Air Command and Staff College as a student and then as a faculty member, where he first specialized in joint warfare and the Process of Accreditation for Joint Education. He was then selected to pursue a PhD in International Studies at the University of Denver where his dissertation explored multiparty mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He returned to ACSC to serve as the Chairman of the Curriculum Department in the Distance Learning Directorate where he led a team of majors, lieutenant colonels and senior PhD civilians that delivered a fully accredited master’s program to over 1,000 students and completely redesigned a non-master’s program that served more than 10,000.
Bauman spent the first ten years of his career flying mobility missions in the C-27 throughout Central and South America and then in the C-5 worldwide. He additionally served as an instructor and evaluator pilot at the C-5 schoolhouse.
Bauman earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from Air Command and Staff College, and a Doctorate in International Studies from the University of Denver. His areas of interest are U.S. foreign policy, national security strategy and policy, national security decision-making, Middle East politics, Arab-Israeli conflict, civil-military relations, comparative politics, and officer education.