The Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC) was founded at Air University in April 2006, embracing the Air Force Chief of Staff's intention to improve Airmen's cross-cultural competence. In April 2007, the Air Force further demonstrated its commitment to culture learning by selecting cross-cultural competence as the centerpiece of Air University's re-accreditation efforts.

In December 2007, the Center was made responsible for culture and language training, as well as education, across the entire Air Force. In October 2009, the Air Force Senior Language Authority directed AFCLC to initiate the Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP), a career-spanning program to develop a cadre of Airmen across all specialties with working-level foreign language proficiency.

AFCLC's efforts are guided by Air Force Policy Directive 36-40 and Air Force Instruction 36-4005, as well as numerous Joint guidance documents.


DoD Vision
The Department will have the required combination of language skills, regional expertise and cultural capabilities to meet current and projected needs.

AFCLC Mission
Language, regional expertise, and culture education to enhance interoperability and build partner capacity across the spectrum of military operations.

AFCLC Vision
The Air Force Culture and Language Center will lead the U.S. Air Force in building a cross-culturally competent Total Force to meet the demands of the Service's dynamic global mission.

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Walter H. Ward - Director

Mr. Walter H. (Howard) Ward, Jr. is the Director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC) at Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL. The AFCLC is a team of 50 military, federal civilian, and contract personnel that support the application of airpower by enabling seamless operation with many air forces using culture, regional expertise, and language education and training. The AFCLC develops officer and enlisted Airmen proficient in language, culture and negotiation competencies covering 95 languages through the Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP). The AFCLC also reaches over 210,000 Airmen per year through online training, Community College of the Air Force-accredited courses, officer professional military education, General Officer pre-deployment training, media operations, and expeditionary culture field guides. Mr. Ward is a retired colonel and Master Navigator with over 4,400 hrs in KC-135A/R/RT, C-130E/H1/H2/H3/J. His most recent operational assignment was Commander, 317th Airlift Group, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. He commanded six squadrons, consisting of 1,200 aviators, maintenance professionals and support personnel, and 28 C-130J aircraft engaged in worldwide combat aerial delivery operations.


Gregory Day - Director of Staff/Deputy Director

Mr. Gregory Day is the Director of Staff and Deputy Director of the AFCLC. He has also served as the Chief of the Culture Branch at the AFCLC. Mr. Day retired from the Air Force after 27 years of service as a First Sergeant, PME Commandant, Military Training Leader and Linguist. He holds a M.S. in Education from California State University, East Bay and a M.S. in Leadership and Management from Liberty University. Mr. Day's current activities include administrative and operational oversight of internal processes, curriculum development for all levels of PME and PCE, and assisting the Director with mission development.

Chris Chesser - Chief, Language Division

Mr. Chris Chesser is the Language Distance Learning Chief. Mr. Chesser provides leadership, policy direction, and oversight for the Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP) which focuses on building language, regional expertise, and cultural capabilities for the general purpose force. Mr. Chesser provides management and oversight of eMentor, the Center’s premier online language learning program.


Olin Goodhue - Chief, Education Support Division

Mr. Olin Goodhue is Chief of the AFCLC's Education Support Division. Mr. Goodhue is a retired Air Force officer who served as a rated aircrew member, flight instructor, subject matter expert, curriculum developer, budget planner/programmer and contingency planner. He holds a M.S. in General Administration from Central Michigan University. Mr. Goodhue's activities include operational oversight of Education Management Systems, Course Administration, Assessments, and Outreach.


Mary Newbern - Chief, Expeditionary Readiness Training Programs

Ms. Mary Newbern, Lt Col (Ret) USAF, is Chief of Expeditionary Readiness Training Programs within AFCLC's Region and Culture Division. Her job duties include researching, designing, developing, and managing courseware production and delivery activities for professional military education and expeditionary skills training venues. Ms. Newbern serves as Program Manager and editor-in-chief for the Air Force's Expeditionary Culture Field Guide (ECFG) development activities. She completed a 28-year active-duty career with the Air Force prior to assuming her current position. Hallmark positions included Commander, 31st Services Squadron and Executive officer, 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano AB Italy; Chief of Intelligence, 86th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ramstein AB Germany; 86th Support Group and 86th Operations Group Executive Officer, 86th Fighter Wing, Ramstein AB Germany; and Intelligence Systems Program Manager, HQ USSOUTHCOM, Quarry Heights, Panama. Ms. Newbern was a career intelligence officer specializing in photographic reconnaissance. She holds a B.A. in English and Journalism, a M.A. in Human Resources Development, and a Graduate Certificate as an Instructional Systems Specialist.


Keith J. McCabe - Language Intensive Training Event Program Manager

Mr. Keith McCabe is the Center’s Language Intensive Training Event (LITE) Program Manager. Mr. McCabe leads a multi-functional team overseeing 700 training immersions per year to include language schools, home stay experience, Security Cooperation Office Internships, and language support to Higher Headquarters exercise and operations. In addition, Mr. McCabe also manages the LEAP Scholar oversight for the Advanced Special Emphasis (ASE) program. Finally, Mr. McCabe also manages over 200 Virtual LITE (vLITE) per year.


Gloria Milner - Program Manager, eMentor Language Training

Ms. Gloria is the Center’s eMentor Language Training Program Manager. Ms. Milner leads a multi-functional team overseeing over 1,100 training events per year. eMentor is an online languageprogram that connects LEAP scholars anywhere in the world synchronously with native language instructors, at times convenient for each scholar’s schedule. eMentor lesson content is infused with topics culturally relevant to regions where Airmen and/or Space Force Professionals may be expected to operate seamlessly with air and space forces and populations around the world. Courses enablescholars to not only develop language skills but also apply skills in an operational environment.

Dr. Kristin Bashir

Associate Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Middle East North Africa)

Dr. Kristin Bashir is Associate Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies, Middle East North Africa (MENA) at the AFCLC. She holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the Institute for Middle East Studies at King's College London with teaching experience at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level in the fields of political science, international studies, theology and religious studies, and ethnicity and nationalism studies. Dr. Bashir's current research interests and teaching repertoire include religious and national identities of MENA region communities with attention to inter-faith relations, cultures, nationalisms, gender, belonging, and memory and peacekeeping.

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Dr. Scott Edmondson

Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Africa)

Dr. Scott M. Edmondson is Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Africa) at the AFCLC. He holds a Ph.D. in Culture and Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles, with over eight years of teaching experience in both university (UCLA, Univ. of Michigan) and military settings (USAJFKSWCS, Air University). A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire and Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Ghana, Dr. Edmondson has conducted ethnographic field research in West Africa on popular media production and religious movements, and has worked as a sociocultural intelligence analyst for the 4MISG/US Army Special Operations Command and USAFRICOM. His teaching and research interests include: African religious, media, and security studies; globalization and postcolonial theory; historiography and ethnography; semiotics and narrative analysis; military cross-cultural competence; youth cultures, social media, and radicalization; and cultural property protection/heritage, identity, and conflict.

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Dr. Patricia Fogarty

Assistant Professor of Cross-Cultural Relations

Dr. Patricia Fogarty is Assistant Professor of Cross-Cultural Relations at the AFCLC. Dr. Fogarty has worked at AFCLC since 2009, and finished her PhD in Anthropology in 2012. Her dissertation research revolved around the work of an internationally funded development agency in the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state). Through the topic of development, she explored Moldovans’ experiences of citizenship, national identity, and corruption. Research conducted since joining AFCLC has included documenting the intercultural experiences of Airmen of all ranks and AFSCs. Teaching and research interests include: general cross-cultural awareness and competence; ethnic and national identity; the effects of corruption on military operations; incorporating cultural property protection into professional military education, exercises, and wargames; civil-military organizational relationships in humanitarian and stability operations; and the use of museums and heritage sites for political ends.

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Dr. Jessica Jordan

Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Asia)

Dr. Jessica Jordan is Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Asia) at the Air Force Culture and Language Center. Her Ph.D. is in modern Japanese history, and her research interests include the politics and history of Japan and the US in the tropical Western Pacific Islands (geo-cultural Micronesia), and the politics and systemic dilemmas of the US global military presence. In AY22 she is directing an AU Research Task Force on military basing in the Indo-Pacific, which is a two-term AWC/ACSC cross-listed elective focused on the most pressing challenges facing the US forward posture in this combatant command. Her publications include several contributions to peer-reviewed journals as well as open source articles, Japanese to English translations, and electronic volumes targeting public audiences. She is currently revising her dissertation for submission to an academic press. 

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Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC). She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Khachadoorian has taught a range of college and graduate level courses for more than eighteen years.  She has been at Air University (AU) for seven years. Previously, she taught for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as teaching in several Air Force post-secondary educational settings. Dr. Khachadoorian's research interests include indigenous and tribal cultures, group and individual identity, community memory, culture change and cultural continuity and traditional leadership processes, especially in the ways that tribal groups intersect with nation-states.

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Dr. Elizabeth Peifer

Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Europe)

Dr. Elizabeth L.B. Peifer is Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Europe) at the AFCLC. She holds a Ph.D. in European History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has twenty years of university teaching experience in World History and European Studies. Prior to joining the AFCLC, Dr. Peifer served as Director of Faculty Programs for the Associated Colleges of the South. Dr. Peifer specializes in the study of domestic violent extremism. Her teaching and research interests include: contemporary German society and culture; radicalism and extremism; cultural heritage protection in conflict; public memory and national narratives; and genocide studies.

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Dr. Susan Steen

Chair/Division Chief, Culture & Region Faculty, Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Communication

Dr. Susan Steen is Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Communication at the Air Force Culture and Language Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2007 and held a variety of leadership positions in the field of international education prior to joining AFCLC in 2015. She has traveled widely throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia presenting on topics related to international education and intercultural competence. Dr. Steen’s scholarship involves intercultural, interpersonal, and organizational communication. She uses a communication perspective to examine ways individuals and groups can connect across cultural divides, build resilient communities, and enact inclusion and agility.  Her research interests include Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory, Cosmopolitan Communication, Resilience, Moral Conflict, Moral Injury, and Intercultural Conflict.  Most recently, her work has focused on the use of Cosmopolitan Communication in bridging conflict, strengthening resilience in individuals, communities and organizations; and promoting intercultural effectiveness.  She serves on the international board of the CMM Institute, which is dedicated to advancing communication as a powerful force in creating community, positive relationships, healthy organizations, and mature civic processes.   

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The U.S. Air Force has an enterprise approach to culture and language that involves Headquarters Air Force, Major Commands, direct reporting units and field operating agencies. The Air Force Culture and Language center supports these organizations under the leadership of the Air Force Language, Region and Culture program office. Other stakeholders are found throughout the Air Force, Department of Defense and internationally.