MCALESTER, Okla. -- Dr. Upton R. Shimp was recently named as the new Director for the Defense Ammunition Center and U.S. Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety.

"Dr. Shimp brings a tremendous amount of experience and leadership in training and education of ammunition professionals throughout the services and is poised to continue outstanding customer service," said Jyuji D. Hewitt, Deputy to the Commander, Joint Munitions Command.

During his 32 years in federal service, Shimp has served at Sierra Army Depot, Herlong, Calif.; Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill.; 200th Theater Army Materiel Management Center, Zweibruecken, Germany and 21st Theater Support Command, Kaiserslautern, Germany. Shimp's awards include two Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, the Superior Civilian Service Award, the Commander's Award for Civilian Service, the European Association of the United States Army Commendation, Ammunition Manager of the Year and numerous special service awards.

Shimp's most recent position was Associate Director for Operations and Training of the Defense Ammunition Center. In this role, Shimp was responsible for leading an organization that provides ammunition, logistics, explosives safety, hazardous materials and packaging training to more than 100,000 military and civilian personnel annually. The operations directorate conducts onsite reviews for the Department of Army to ensure compliance with logistics and explosives safety regulations and policy.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Education (Mathematics and Education) from the University of Missouri, a Master of Science in Management from Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, Okla., and received his doctorate in Occupational Education from Oklahoma State University. He is Acquisition Level III certified in logistics life cycle management and a member of AUSA.