Lisa Brodsky (click to enlarge)

Lisa Brodsky (fifth from left) stands
with other female NROTC midshipmen
selected to serve aboard submarines.
(click to enlarge)

HU Midshipman Selected as Female Officer on Navy Sub

Hampton, VA -Lisa Brodsky, a recent Hampton University graduate and Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipman, has been selected as one of only 19 female officers in the nation to be selected as the first females to serve aboard a U.S. Navy submarine. She will be commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy on May 17. Brodsky graduated May 9 magna cum laude from HU with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics.

Following her commissioning, Brodsky will attend Nuclear Power School in Charleston, S.C., before being assigned aboard her first submarine.

On April 29, the Department of the Navy announced a policy change that allows women to serve on submarines. Brodsky joins eight other NROTC graduates from other universities and 11 U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen as the first U.S. Navy female officers to be selected to serve as a submarine crew member. All the midshipmen selected had to go through an extensive interview process with the director of naval nuclear propulsion and the top Navy officer in the submarine force in Washington, D.C., Adm. Kirkland Donald.

“We are extremely proud of Midshipman Brodsky’s recent accomplishment, being accepted as part of the first female class in the submarine community,” said Capt. Mike Barea, the Hampton Roads NROTC commanding officer and HU professor of naval science. “There are many uncertainties that lay ahead but there's steadfastness, a willingness to serve within our Naval ROTC student body as our nation’s next generation of defenders.”

Founded in July 1982, HU’s NROTC program is part of the Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Training Corps. This year it consisted of 41 midshipmen. The Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps is one of the largest officer training battalions in the nation, consisting of more than 250 sailors, Marines, and midshipmen. It is comprised of a three school consortium that includes HU, Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University.

The NROTC program, overseen by NSTC at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, loyalty and Navy core values. NROTC graduates become naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the naval service and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.