2011 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year

U.S. Navy Commander Stan W. Fornea

The first chaplain ever assigned to the White House military office, U.S. Navy Commander
Stan W. Fornea, was recognized as Southeastern’s 2011 Alumnus of the Year. A U.S.
Navy Chaplain who served under both presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama accepted
his honor at the Southeastern Louisiana University Alumni Association November 5,
2011 as the university’s 2011 Alumnus of the Year.

Navy Commander Stan W. Fornea, a native of Bogalusa and 1979 Southeastern graduate,
told the audience that the shaping of his life began at Southeastern.

“This school started in me a love for study and the pursuit of learning,” said Fornea,
the first chaplain ever assigned to the White House military office. “That education
has helped shape me and broadened me by enlarging my own frame of reference. It reinforced
for me the philosophy of life as a journey.” He added: “It started here for me, and
universities must never underestimate the potential to open a young student’s mind,
to explore and feel the world around us.”

Fornea is an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church of the United States. After
receiving his degree from Southeastern in history and social studies, he earned a
Master of Divinity Degree from New Orleans Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology
Degree from Duke University, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Vanderbilt University.

Fornea previously served under former President George W. Bush as command chaplain
at the Presidential retreat at Camp David, part of the Naval Support Facility in Thurmont,
Md. In his autobiography “Decision Points,” Bush describes Fornea as a source of solace,
resolve and spiritual direction during the summer of 2006, a time the President described
as the “worst period of my presidency” because of the ongoing Iraq War.

He joined the military after 12 years of parish ministry work in Mississippi and Texas
and has spent 15 year serving in the military. Among various assignments, he served
as deputy command chaplain for multi-national forces at Camp Liberty and the International
Zone in Baghdad.

It was the military, he said, that greatly expanded his view of the world. “For me,
the greatest catalyst for change has been the decision to live out my work mission
in the context of military service, and it has directly challenged, corrected and
expanded my appreciation of the diversity and pluralism of the young men and women
who serve,” he said.

“From the U.S. to Greece, from England to Uzbekistan, from Italy to Jordan, from Croatia
to Iraq, from Camp David to the White House, and in a dozen other countries, I have
been dramatically shaped by the world in which I found myself. I am discovering that
different is not to be feared, that to not understand a person doesn’t make him or
her inferior.”

Fornea said it has been a privilege to serve two presidents. “I have seen President
Bush shed tears in recognition of the enormity of sacrifice paid for by having those
serving our nation,” he continued. “I have witnessed President Obama take full days
to walk the halls of Walter Reed and Bethesda medical centers to honor those who had
been wounded.

“All of us can find some means by which we serve one another,” he added. “I am convinced
that service and sacrifice open the door to life’s journey.”