Dr. Mary Bell
Associate Professor, Joint Advanced Warfighting School
Dr. Bell is the faculty chair for the Joint Advanced Warfighting School’s (JAWS) Operational Art and Campaign Planning Course. She is also the faculty lead for an elective on cyberspace, intelligence, and information considerations. She has a Ph.D. in International Studies from Old Dominion University, an M.A. in International Relations from St. Mary’s University at San Antonio, Texas, and a B.A. in International Business from New Mexico State University.
She has over 20 years of service in the U.S. Army with experience in Aviation and Intelligence. She flew the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in South Korea, Hawaii, throughout the U.S., and Haiti in support of Operation Uphold Democracy. She also flew the C-12 Huron and EO-5B/C Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) to support Operations Palmetto Ghost and Palmetto Shield, Counter Drug operations for U.S. Southern Command. She flew missions on the ARL as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, collecting real-time full-motion video for the Joint Special Operations Command. She then served as a Mission Commander for the Open Skies Treaty, negotiating with diplomats from 33 nations, including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Sweden, Georgia, Italy, and France.
Besides operational and planning experience, she was an Assistant Professor of Military Strategic Studies at the Air Force Academy (2001 – 2003) and military faculty and Assistant Professor at the Joint and Combined Warfighting School (2010 – 2017). She has received many accolades from speaking to large organizations, including the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of Women Pilots, service members of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and U.S. Naval Atlantic Air Force Command. She was the keynote speaker at Pennsylvania State University’s Veteran’s Day celebration. She has expertise in U.S. energy policy, as well as Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific relations. Dr. Bell is a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is a proud parent of a 13-year-old boy, and she sponsors her Kenyan “niece,” a nursing student at ODU.
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