CCCC graduate to speak about his 9-11 Pentagon experience for Cook Series

Colonel Marty Hauser (Ret.) will talk about his experience at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and his career in the Air Force at Cloud County Community College’s Cook Series on Thursday, September 10, at 7:00 p. m. in Cook Theatre, 2221 Campus Drive, in Concordia.  All Cook Series events are free and open to the public.

 

Hauser is a 1978 graduate and former baseball player at Cloud County Community College. He is a business entrepreneur and retired senior leader for the U.S. Air Force, a national non-profit organization, and a Fortune Top 40 company corporate executive.

 

Hauser last worked for United Technologies, a $68 billion corporation now known as Raytheon Technologies, as the Director of Government Communications. Prior to that he was Vice President of Washington Operations, Research & Analysis for the Space Foundation where he published its annual book about the space industry, “The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity.” 

Hauser retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Colonel in 2006, having completed 26 years of active-duty service at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; Patrick AFB and the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; and the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, where he was the lead Department of Defense (DoD) spokesperson for the Space Shuttle Challenger accident and recovery operations. Following the Challenger accident, he was assigned to the Pentagon where he held several assignments as a spokesperson for three Assistant Secretaries of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office. 

 

He worked several high-profile programs during his career including the buildup of DoD’s space launch and satellite programs, the Base Closure and Reinvestment program, the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization program, the Persian Gulf War and the Global War on Terror.  His final Air Force position was as a Reserve Advisor and Deputy Director of Strategic Communications where he helped lead all Air Force strategic communications activities. He was serving in this position when an airplane struck the Pentagon on September 11. During much of his career he was also part owner of KNCK/KCKS, Concordia’s local radio station.

 

He currently serves on the Cloud County Community College Foundation board while previously serving as a board member of Operation Homefront, a 501(c)(3) national charity supporting military members and their families, and the board of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

This year marks the 33rd anniversary of the Charles and Marian Cook Series at Cloud County Community College. The Cooks were travelers who wanted to bring the world to those who could not travel themselves. More 80 events have been presented by the Cook Foundation and the Division of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business in the past quarter-century.  Marian Cook wished that all Cook Series events are free and open to the public.

Contact Brenton Phillips at 785-243-1435, ext. 244 or by email at bphillips@cloud.edu with any questions.