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Colonel
William Geffen
Permanent Professor 1971–1982
B.A., University of California, Berkeley
M.A., Stanford University
Ph.D., University of Denver
William Geffen, the Academy’s 27th Permanent Professor, was born in Konigsberg, Germany, in 1925 and came to the United States in 1941. After finishing high school in New York City in 1943, he enlisted in the US Army and served in the infantry in France, Germany, and Austria. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying participation in active ground combat, and he received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. After the war, he took advantage of the GI Bill to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cal–Berkeley in 1947 and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Stanford in 1948. From 1949 to 1951 he pursued doctoral work at Berkeley. In 1951 he accepted a direct commission in the Air Force and was recalled to active duty in 1952, with an assignment as Intelligence Officer for a fighter squadron in Portland, Oregon. In 1953 he was transferred to Germany and served as Intelligence Liaison between HQ US Air Forces Europe (USAFE) and the US Command of Berlin. In 1956 he was assigned to the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, HQ USAF, the Pentagon, Washington, DC, where he developed specialized intelligence-collection training programs for intelligence field units and the air attaché system. In 1960 he was assigned to the Air Force Academy’s Department of Foreign Languages as Instructor of German; he also taught courses in Political Science. In 1964 he went back to USAFE, where he was assigned to the War Plans Division. He returned to the Academy in 1967, this time to the Department of History as Chair of Western European Area Studies, where he also directed the 1969 Military History Symposium and edited its proceedings published as Command and Commanders in Modern Warfare. From 1969 to 1971 William Geffen spent 18 months in Vietnam, responsible for planning all US administrative and logistical support to the seven free world nations with forces operating there. His service was recognized with the first Oak Leaf Cluster to his Bronze Star as well as receiving a decoration personally from the President of Vietnam. Returning from Vietnam he completed his PhD degree in National Security Policy at the University of Denver in 1971. That summer he was appointed Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Foreign Languages. From 1979 to 1980 he went on a sabbatical assignment to the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA. Upon return, he worked on the Dean’s staff until he retired in 1982. He died in Colorado Springs in 2009.