AMC commander to receive top collegiate athletic honor

By Cherish Washington, AMCJanuary 14, 2011

Dunwoody Afghanistan Visit
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Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
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FORT BELVOIR, Va., Jan. 14, 2011 -- Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, has been selected to receive National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest honor, the 2011 Theodore Roosevelt award.

Dunwoody will accept her award during a formal ceremony at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Friday.

"This award is truly an honor and serves as a reminder of how a life-long commitment to fitness plays a key role in supporting the physical dimension of Soldier and Army civilian resiliency," said Dunwoody.

Dunwoody currently leads more than 70,000 military and civilian personnel who provide logistics, acquisition and technology support to warfighters around the world. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1975, and was directly commissioned into the Women's Army Corps.

Although Dunwoody had originally expected to serve in a physical education profession and coach after her two-year commitment to the Army, once she donned the uniform, she knew that being a Soldier was all she wanted to do.

"What I found when I first joined the Army was a community of dedicated professionals, a very noble profession, that was values-based, demanded fitness, required leadership, and opened up so many opportunities to serve in an organization that is vitally important to our nation," said Dunwoody.

Dunwoody received a master's of science in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1988, and a master's of science degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1995.

Dunwoody's active lifestyle began far before her physical training and fitness in the Army. She was active in sports during high school, traveling around Europe while her father was stationed there. She was also a starter on both the tennis and gymnastics squads at SUNY Cortland, participating on both teams for four years.

"One of the great lessons I've learned from athletics and the Army is to make a difference. It doesn't matter if you're part of five-person team, a ten-person team, a 50,000 person team, or as an individual. No matter who you are, or what you do, know that you can make a difference. When we all do that, the results are incredibly powerful," she said.

Dunwoody enjoys hiking, skiing, playing tennis, and is an active runner with her husband, retired Air Force Col. Craig Brotchie, and their springer spaniel, Barney.

The award, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, whose concern for the conduct of intercollegiate athletics led to the formation of the NCAA in 1906. This annual award is given to an individual "for whom competitive athletics in college and attention to physical well-being thereafter have been important factors in a distinguished career of national significance and achievement."

Related Links:

Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody biography

Army promotes first woman to four-star general

Army Materiel Command