Dr. Grant R. Highland, PhD
Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Grant Highland is currently serving as faculty for the National Defense University, Joint Forces Staff College, Joint and Combined Warfighting School. JCWS prepares and educates national security professionals to anticipate, innovate, plan and execute operational level joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational operations in order to instill a primary commitment to joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational teamwork, attitudes and perspectives.

He has over 34 years of experience within DoD with leadership positions ranging from aircraft commander, detachment officer in charge, and squadron operations officer, to lead deliberate planner for the United States European Command J4, to Seminar Team Lead for a senior seminar faculty teaching team. He has had numerous tours overseas, to include Guam, Italy and Germany, with several deployments across the globe in support of military operations.

While a master’s student at the Naval War College, he received second place recognition in the Chairman’s Strategy Essay competition for his work titled, “New Century, Old Problem: The Global Insurgency Within Islam, and the Nature of the War on Terror.” He has received the Military Officer’s Association Joint Educator of the Year Award, and has been awarded designation as Master Faculty by National Defense University. He earned a Ph.D. in International Studies from Old Dominion University where he explored the adoption of quantum mechanics and science into the international relations field. His dissertation titled, "Connectivism: Adopting Quantum Holism in International Relations" can be accessed through the ProQuest database and has been downloaded over 40 times across the globe since October 2021. His research interests include global politics, nation state transformation, and the effect of technology on society and how it will impact the structure of civilization in the future.

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