WEST POINT, N.Y. –Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that President Barack Obama has nominated Col. Tim Trainor for promotion to the grade of brigadier general and assignment as the U.S. Military Academy’s Dean of the Academic Board.  He is currently serving as Professor and Head of the Systems Engineering department here.

Trainor will succeed Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan, who retired earlier this month and will assume the position as the 25th President of Longwood University in Farmville, Va. 

“I am both honored and humbled to be nominated to this position and look forward to serving as Dean and continuing to enhance and broaden our cadets’ learning opportunities both here and abroad,” Trainor said.

Trainor graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from West Point in 1983 and entered the Engineer Branch of the U.S. Army.  As an engineer officer, he has served in operational assignments around the world to include Germany, Honduras, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Riley, Kan., and Sarajevo, Bosnia.

In 2007, he deployed to Basrah, Iraq, to work with the United Kingdom-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in helping the Iraqi leaders improve their infrastructure revitalization plans.

About West Point
Ranked the “Top College in the Country” by Forbes and “Top Public Liberal Arts College” by US News & World Report, the U.S. Military Academy is a four-year co-educational federal undergraduate liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City.  The world's preeminent leader development institution, it was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering.  Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.  For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.