Retired Air Force Colonel Lynne Clark Thompson will be honored as this year’s distinguished alumnus as part of Centralia College’s commencement ceremony on June 17.
Thompson is a 1970 graduate of Centralia College who served more than 44 years in the Department of Defense, both in the U.S. Air Force and in federal civil service, primarily as an educator and administrator, according to Centralia College.
Thompson graduated from Centralia High School and attended Centralia College for his first two years of college.
“Centralia College was life-changing for me,” he said in a news release. “I was introverted in high school and I realized I needed to grow beyond that stereotype. Centralia College provided me opportunities to do that.”
After graduating from Centralia College, Thompson earned his bachelor’s degree in speech and communications at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri and enlisted in the Air Force.
“That was during the Vietnam War. I thought I’d do my patriotic duty and be out in four years,” he said. “Instead, I served in the Air Force for almost 32 years.”
Thompson initially became a linguist and later completed officer training school. After being commissioned in 1973, he successfully trained to navigate B-52 aircraft and, in less than five years, became an instructor who was responsible for maintaining the proficiency of radar navigators at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, according to Centralia College. Thompson earned his master’s degree in sociology from Pepperdine University in 1979.
He went on to serve at headquarters, Strategic Air Command, the Pentagon and the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS). At JSTPS, he was the deputy chief of the Analysis and Simulation Division — the office that analyzed all U.S. strategic nuclear war plans. In 1991, he was selected to be on an elite, five-person team charged with making the U.S. Strategic Command a reality.
After graduating from Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, he became the director of plans and programs at the Ira C. Eaker College for Professional Development at Air University on Maxwell Air Force Base. Thompson introduced computer-based instruction and web-based data gathering, and created a leadership course for lieutenant colonels selected to become squadron commanders, according to Centralia College.
He was transferred to the Pentagon in 1997, where he oversaw Air Force policies for modeling and simulation. In 1999, he was selected to teach leadership at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at National Defense University, Washington, D.C. After two years, he was named the college’s associate dean of faculty and academic programs.
Thompson was awarded a doctorate of education from The George Washington University in 2003 and was subsequently selected to become dean of students and administration at the Information Resources Management College at National Defense University, a position he kept after retiring from the Air Force in December 2003.
He joined the faculty at The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at National Defense University as a professor of behavioral science in 2004. He went on to chair the Department of Strategic Leadership. The university president identified Thompson’s strategic leadership development course as one of the two best courses in the university.
He retired from federal civil service in 2016.
Centralia College’s walk-through commencement ceremony will take place Friday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Littel Commencement Field across from the clocktower at the college’s Centralia campus, located at 600 Centralia College Blvd.
Visit https://www.centralia.edu/admissions/graduation.aspx for more information.
