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Brigadier General
Dana H. Born
Permanent Professor 2002–2013
Dean of the Faculty 2004–2013
B.S., United States Air Force Academy
M.S., Trinity University
M.A., University of Melbourne
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Dana Born (née Lindsley), the Academy’s 74th Permanent Professor, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1960. She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1983 with a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Sciences. Her first assignment was as a Job Analyst, Occupational Measurement Center, Randolph AFB, TX. While at Randolph, she completed a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology at Trinity University, San Antonio, in 1985. She was the Executive Officer to the Center Commander in 1985 until she attended Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB, AL, and graduated in 1986. From 1986 to 1989 Dana was assigned as Personnel Measurement Psychologist, USAF Exchange and Liaison Office, Royal Australian Air Force HQ Support Command, Melbourne, Australia. While in Australia, she studied for a Master’s degree in Research Psychology at the University of Melbourne, which was awarded in 1991. In 1989 Dana joined the USAFA faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. She entered Pennsylvania State University, University Park, in 1991 and earned her PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology in 1994. From 1994 to 1997 Dana was the Assistant Director, Recruiting Research and Analysis, Accession Policy Directorate, Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy, Washington, DC. Remaining in the Pentagon, in 1997 she became a Speechwriter and Policy and Issues Analyst, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force and then Aide to two consecutive Secretaries of the Air Force. From 1998 to 2000 Dana was Deputy Chief of the Personnel Issues Team, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, HQ USAF. She served as the Commander of the 11th Mission Support Squadron, Bolling AFB, Washington, from 2000 to 2002 and led the squadron’s efforts following the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. In 2002 Dana returned to the Academy as Professor and Head, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership; later that year she was appointed a Permanent Professor. During her first year, she led the Academy’s responses to Congressional, DoD, and Air Force panels investigating the widely publicized allegations of sexual assault/harassment. Subsequently, she was the Academy’s chief architect for the groundbreaking Officer Development System, developed in 2003–2004. Dana was selected to be the Academy’s 8th Permanent Professor Dean of the Faculty in 2004 and promoted to brigadier general. During her tenure as Dean, she bolstered the Academy’s research programs, achieving a 15-fold increase in research funding, which earned the Academy a national reputation for having the largest research program of any wholly undergraduate institution. She led a revolutionary change in the Academy’s educational paradigm by serving as chief architect and proponent of the shift to focus on cadet learning rather than teaching. Recognizing Air Force needs, she supported two new strategic cadet programs: Remotely Piloted Aircraft and Cyber Defense. From 2010 to 2011 she served on the Department of Defense Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Comprehensive Review Working Group, Committee on Education and Training. She served in Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM assisting the National Military Academy in 2008 and 2010. Dana received the Air Force’s Eugene M. Zuckert Management Award in 2009 and the Hoyt S. Vandenberg Award for Aerospace Education in 2011. Dana retired from the USAF in 2013.
Upon retirement Dana accepted a position as Lecturer in Public Policy at the Center for Public Leadership, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. She also became the Faculty Chair of the Senior Executive Fellows Program in the Center in 2016 and Co-Director of the Center in 2017. She teaches and leads seminars at Harvard and for many organizations and governments throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She is the past President and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Society for Military Psychology). Dana has received the Kennedy School Dean’s Teaching Award each of her first four years at Harvard and the Penn State University’s Distinguished Alumni Fellow Award.