Defense Acquisition University Cuts Ribbon on New 60,000 Square-Foot Facility

Frank Anderson, President of DAU, and James McCullough, Dean of DAU South, cut the ribbon for the schools new campus in Thornton Research Park.

February 16, 2010 - Defense Acquisition University (DAU) recently cut the ribbon on its newly built, 60,000 square-foot facility in Thornton Research Park.

DAU trains government employees ranging from new hires to high-level project managers in acquisition, technology and logistics.

Charlie Kettle, Chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, said that DAU plays a key role in the area’s workforce development.

“Having Defense Acquisition University in our community creates an even better trained, more highly qualified workforce to support the critical programs at Redstone. In addition, DAU’s presence is a very powerful workforce recruitment tool. It is nice for workforce candidates to know that if they move to this community they will have access to specific continuous learning and enhanced training programs that will increase their knowledge base as well as create additional career advancement opportunities,” Kettle said.

James McCullough, Dean of DAU South, said that DAU has grown significantly in Huntsville since it first opened in 2002.

“In February 2002, we opened a small office with three classrooms and 20 faculty members. This new building will have 100 faculty and staff and has 12 classrooms. There will be 400 students here every week. That is pretty significant growth,” McCullough said.

Frank Anderson, President of DAU, said that the school’s mission is in line with the Department of Defense’s mission for a well-trained acquisition workforce.

“On April 6, 2009, Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that we were going to increase the amount of the acquisition workforce. Since that announcement we have worked to meet that goal. We will have 40,000 graduates from DAU this year in various acquisition programs,” Anderson said.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle lauded the growth of DAU in Huntsville and its role of supporting the warfighter, a role that the community takes very seriously, according to Battle.

“This is one of the great things in Huntsville. This growth is a mirror of the Huntsville’s growth. DAU will make sure that our workforce is prepared to support the warfighter,” Battle said.