These endowed professorships will help prioritize and invest in the excellent faculty members who have chosen to build their careers at the Academy, ensuring they are able to continue working on research projects and curriculum development efforts throughout the year that directly benefit midshipmen. Additional funding from the endowments will go to support Fellows in the School, and additional exceptional faculty members who are making important contributions to their fields at the Academy.
“The Festa and Messner families have already been making an impact on the Naval Academy for many years,” stated Dr. Andrew T. Phillips, Academic Dean and Provost of the U.S. Naval Academy. “These new philanthropic gifts take that support to a new level. Their financial commitments will provide our faculty with the support they need to continue to bring to the classroom the best thinking and the best experiences possible all in the furtherance of the world-class education we provide to the midshipmen.”
“Named professorships and fellowships allow us to not only highlight and support exceptional faculty but also to develop and expand emerging areas of emphasis in the academic program,” added Colonel Michael Styskal, USMC, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. “The Festa Family Professor in Multidimensional Warfare and the Speedwell Professor of International Studies provide unique opportunities in key areas to inspire faculty to continue to develop and innovate their teaching and scholarship throughout the entirety of their Naval Academy careers.”
Dr. Karen Thierfelder, an internationally recognized expert in the fields of international trade and computable general equilibrium modeling, has been named the U.S. Naval Academy’s first Festa Family Professor in Multidimensional Warfare. Dr. Thierfelder has served seven years as the Economics Department Chair, four years as a member of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, and previously earned the Class of 1951 Civilian Faculty Research Excellence Award, all while expertly instructing economics courses from the introductory through advanced levels. Dr. Thierfelder has incorporated aspects of economic and multidimensional warfare into student development and academic research for the last three decades.
Dr. Sharika Crawford, a member of the Naval Academy History Department and one of its finest instructors, has been named the Naval Academy’s first Speedwell Professor of International Studies. Dr. Crawford was the 2022 recipient of the Class of 1951 Civilian Faculty Research Excellence Award, has published a book and multiple refereed articles, chapters, and essays. She has served on numerous departmental committees including as the chair of the History Department Promotion and Tenure Committee, co-chair of the Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment Committee, and member of the History Search Committee.
Fred Festa, a current member of the USNA AA&F’s Board of Directors, and his wife, MaryLynn, have felt a bond with the Academy since even before their son, Kyle, attended. The Festas have a home in Annapolis, and Fred’s brother Robert graduated with the Class of 1983. “Once Kyle decided to go and was accepted to the Academy,” Fred stated, “that affiliation with USNA became even stronger.”
The Festas became immediately involved in supporting many events and opportunities at the Academy, including becoming a “home away from the Yard” for Kyle and the rest of the 13th Company. “It seemed like every weekend we had 12 or 13 midshipmen over and we kind of became a second home for many of them,” said Festa. “They are all still very close with us and we’ve become very close with many of their families as well.”
At the same time, Fred and MaryLynn began to investigate other ways they could support the Academy. As the former chairman and CEO of W.R. Grace & Co., an American chemical business with a global reach, Festa’s initial interest was in supporting the International Programs Office at the Academy. “I thought that would be a good way to round out the experience of the midshipmen.” The Festas established the Midshipman Jason D. Jablonski ’17 Memorial Scholars Fund for Economics, named in memory of one of Kyle’s teammates on the Navy club ice hockey team and designated to support economics majors studying abroad through the International Programs Office.
The Festas continued to make an impact on other areas around the Yard, supporting the Navy club ice hockey team and the Midshipmen Activities Fund as well as the building of the new Alumni Center, which is set to open later this year. They also continue to be strong supporters of the Naval Academy Fund and have made an additional commitment to the fund alongside the creation of this new professorship.
Kyle would go on to graduate with the Class of 2018, and he currently is an MH-60R pilot in the Fleet. However, the Festas remained very involved with the Academy; Fred joined the Foundation's Board of Directors in Kyle’s senior year, and the family continued to look for ways to invest in the institution. It was during one of those board meetings that he heard a talk that sparked his interest in a new model of professorship support. “I was sitting in a board meeting right around the time when the war in Ukraine had just started,” said Festa. “There was a speaker addressing the board, and he came in and told us, ‘The new way of fighting is going to be this multi-dimensional warfare, it’s not going to be the traditional way we are used to seeing.’”
“I started to think about that, and I also remembered Kyle, a quantitative economics major, receiving an award from his department for his capstone project, which had a similar thread on this topic,” Festa said. “All of that coalesced, and after the Spring board meeting we wanted to do something with the Economics department around this issue, and everybody came back and said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
With the creation of the Festa Family Professor in Multidimensional Warfare, there is an opportunity to ensure that midshipmen are prepared for the future of warfare before they even enter the Fleet. “The Academy is training midshipmen how to be good officers, for one, and also to be aware culturally of what is going on around the globe,” Festa said. “So let’s make sure we are bringing in and retaining experts in these fields to help them think about what the full impacts and economic issues and tools you have in a conflict.”
“Engraining this thinking and instruction into these midshipmen, hitting them at an early age instead of waiting until they are out in the Fleet and learning lessons on the fly, is going to help tremendously,” closed Festa.
Jenny Messner has had a lifelong affiliation with the U.S. Naval Academy. “I’ve always had a soft spot for the Navy, given my father’s service during World War II,” Messner stated. “My dad, Walter Kissinger, survived the bombing of the ARIZONA at Pearl Harbor. We took our family to the memorial to see his name on the survivor list right before our son, George, entered the Naval Academy in 1998.”
While at the Academy, George was a “POW” to West Point for a semester, and he received the Pownall Scholarship upon graduation, enabling him to do postgraduate study at St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge. He would go on to spend 10 years on active duty as a surface warfare officer, mostly on ships in the Western Pacific, and has stayed active in the Naval Reserve after starting a civilian career. However, the Messners and their family foundation, the Speedwell Foundation, have remained actively involved in supporting the Naval Academy.
For Jenny Messner, it was a personal interest in studying abroad that motivated initial support of the Academy through the International Programs Office. “I studied in São Paulo, Brazil for a year in high school, through the AFS-USA program, and it was life-changing,” stated Messner. “As a wide-eyed girl from a small town, learning Portuguese and the complexities of another culture gave me tools to keep a global outlook for the rest of my life.”
“Knowing how many midshipmen come from backgrounds with little exposure to foreign cultures, I figured that the more of them that experienced other countries and cultures before they were launched into the world as naval officers, the better,” said Messner.
“I’ve used my language skills and knowledge of Brazilian culture in so many different ways,” continued Messner. “But most rewarding is the appreciation I’ve seen in the eyes of the Brazilians I meet, who are delighted that I have made the effort to learn their language and culture. I want our new officers to experience that instant bond of mutual respect at moments like those.”
After over two decades of generous philanthropy to the Academy, including their Speedwell Scholars International Program investment and support for the new Alumni Center, as well as an impactful term on the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Messner learned about the opportunity to endow a professorship in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She knew it was a chance to have an even greater impact on imparting an appreciation for and expertise in foreign affairs upon midshipmen at the Academy.
“Creating the Speedwell Professor of International Studies is an exciting new way to ensure that our midshipmen and their teachers have access to cutting-edge knowledge of the world today,” Messner stated. “Our future naval leaders need the best.”
As part of this gift, the Messners have also increased their support for their Speedwell Scholars International Programs fund, which supports midshipmen study abroad experiences, a program that they have supported since 2009 in the program’s early days.
“Through the International Program experience abroad and access to the best and brightest professors in foreign studies, our midshipmen will be able to confidently launch themselves into multicultural roles in their careers,” Messner closed. “After all, each new officer is essentially an ‘ambassador’ representing our country in venues all over the world.”