Roxborough Native HR McMaster Getting Center In His Name

ROXBOROUGH, PHILADELPHIA – Valley Forge Military College is renaming one of its centers after an alumnus of the Valley Forge Military Academy and a Roxborough native who is serving as a National Security Advisor with the Trump administrations.

The college announced it will rename its Center for Advancement of Security Studies in honor of LTG H.R. McMaster, a 1980 graduate of the academy and a Roxborough native.

The center will be called H.R. McMaster Center for Security Studies, or simply The McMaster Center, the college said.

"It is a great honor to have my name on the Center that will help dedicated young men and women think about how to promote peace and advance security for our nation and all humanity," McMaster said in a statement.

McMaster joined the Trump administration in February last year after top national security advisor as Michael Flynn, who recently pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

"We are honored to bestow this designation upon such a distinguished member of our Valley Forge Community,” Maureen Malone, Dean,Valley Forge Military College, said in a statement. "LTG H.R. McMaster is a true patriot that embodies the mission and values of being educated in a military environment and represents what it truly means to serve your country."

The center will transition from a virtual coordinating center housing faculty expertise to one that will develop training and education programs for VFMC cadets as well as law enforcement agencies, business executives, national security professionals, policy makers, and others, according to the college.

It will merge academics with practitioners, and focus on becoming a nationally recognized non-partisan research-driven academic organization. Renaming the Center emphasizes VFMC’s recognition as the only junior military college in the country and the only two-year college in Pennsylvania designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Two Year Education (CAE2Y) by the NSA and DHS.

The Center was founded and is led by Dr. Earl J. Catagnus, Jr., a former U.S. Marine scout/sniper and Purple Heart recipient. He will continue to lead the effort to make VFMC the premier institution for developing basicallytrained and educated national security professionals.

McMaster began serving in the United States Army after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1984.

His military career includes assignments as Commanding General at Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, and as Commander for the Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force Shafafiyat (Transparency) in Kabul, Afghanistan.

McMaster was also recently presented with an honorary degree from Valley Forge Military College.

Image via U.S. Army Public Affairs