BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN MAJOR GENERAL RONNIE D. HAWKINS Jr UNITED STATES ARMY GENERAL : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr. is Director, Defense Information Systems Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland. He leads a global organization of military and civilian personnel who plan, develop, deliver, and operate joint interoperable command and control capabilities and a global enterprise infrastructure in direct support of the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combatant Commanders, Department of Defense Components, and other mission partners across the full spectrum of operations.

General Hawkins received his commission as a distinguished graduate of the ROTC program at Angelo State University in 1977. He has held a variety of communications positions, including an assignment on the Joint Staff as support manager for command, control, communications and computer systems, and he later served as Director of C4 Systems for Joint Task Force - Southwest Asia.

The general has commanded Cadet Squadron 24 at the U.S. Air Force Academy; Air Combat Command's Computer Systems Squadron and Communications Group; and Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He has served as the Director of Communications and Information, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces; Director of Communications Operations, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force; and Director, Infrastructure Delivery, Office of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. General Hawkins has also been Deputy Chief of Staff, Communications and Information Systems, Multi-National Force-Iraq. General Hawkins was the Vice Director, Defense Information Systems Agency, Fort. Meade, Maryland. Prior to his current assignment he was the Deputy Director Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems (C4), Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

EDUCATION
1977 Bachelor of Business Administration degree in computer science, Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas
1981 Distinguished graduate, Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1985 Master of Science degree in management and human relations, Abilene Christian University, Texas
1993 Distinguished graduate, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1997 Master of Science degree in national resource strategy, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
2009 Program for Senior Managers in Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.