Mercogliano tapped for West Point duty

     Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano, adjunct professor of history at Campbell University, has been selected to fill in temporarily for a professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The West Point professor was called up on an emergency deployment to join a task force that will work with an Iraqi unit in border security operations. He is one of three officers that the U.S. Military Academy is sending to this unit.
     Mercogliano, whose West Point classes began on Jan. 9, will be teaching four sections of History of the Military Art, a required course for cadets prior to graduation. Each class section will contain approximately 15 fourth-year cadets. Upon graduation in May, these students are commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants in the U.S. Army and sent on to further training and assignment, many slated to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
     A former Merchant Marine with the Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Mercogliano is a maritime historian who received special commendation for his work during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He has taught at Methodist College and East Carolina University and was the recipient of a 1999 West Point Summer History Fellowship. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mercogliano is a full time fire fighter and EMT with the Coats-Grove Fire and Rescue squad and a volunteer firefighter with the Northwest Harnett Volunteer Fire Department. Mercogliano also works part time as a paralegal for his wife’s law firm the Law Office of Kathy Anderson Mercogliano in Fuquay-Varina. Kathy is a 2001 graduate of Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.
     Mercogliano holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation from SUNY Maritime College and a master’s degree in Maritime History and Nautical Archeology from East Carolina University. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Alabama in 2004.
     He will return to Campbell to teach U.S. history during the 2006 summer sessions.
     “I am pleased that the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Mark Hammond, and the chairman of the Department of Government, History and Justice, Dr. James Martin, have graciously allowed me to undertake this challenge and still maintain my adjunct status at Campbell,” Mercogliano said. “I think this demonstrates Campbell’s desire to support our nation’s military and assist their professors in their academic careers.”

Photo Copy: Campbell University’s Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano, pictured in his fire fighting gear, has taken a temporary assignment as professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Mercogliano relieves another professor who was called up to serve in Iraq.