Lt. Gen Julius Becton, Jr. (Retired USA) - Member, Board of Trustees

Lieutenant General Julius W. Becton, Jr. retired from the U.S. Army after almost 40 years of service. He entered active duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps, graduated from Infantry OCS a year later, and is a veteran of three wars - World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.  General Becton served as Director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, AID, before being nominated by the President in 1985 ad confirmed by the Senate as the third Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a position he held for nearly four years before briefly moving into the private sector. In December 1989 he became the fifth President of his alma mater, PrairieView A&M University, a position he held until November 1994. His last full time position was being the CEO/Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public School System from November 1996 to May 1998.

A native of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, General Becton earned his B.S. degree in mathematics, as a nontraditional student, from Prairie View A&M College in Texas; he later earned his M.A. degree in economics from the University of Maryland. He is also a graduate of top military schools, including the Army's Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College, and the National War College. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from Huston-Tillotson College in Texas, Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, Prairie View A&M University, and The Citadel in South Carolina.

Becton recently released his autobiography titled 'Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and a Public Servant'.