Dr. Michael K. Simpson

Michael K. Simpson, Ph.D., M.B.A. was appointed President of the International Space University in May 2004. His academic career extends over 32 years and three continents.
 
He has been president of Utica College and the American University of Paris with a combined total of eighteen years of experience as an academic chief executive officer. He has lectured in political science, international relations, business management, international law, leadership, and economics at Universities in the United States of America, France, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
 
Michael received his Bachelors Degree magna cum laude from Fordham University in 1970 where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has also been elected to academic honor societies in the fields of political science and business management. After graduating from Fordham University, Dr. Simpson accepted a commission as an officer in the U.S. Navy where he served as an Oceanographic Watch Officer, Communications Officer, Leadership and Management Instructor, Repair Officer, and Political Military Action Officer. In 1993 he retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander. He holds numerous commendations including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
 
Michael completed his Ph.D. at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, holds the Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University; and two Master of Arts degrees from The Fletcher School. He has also completed two prestigious one year courses in Europe: the French advanced defense institute (Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale) and the General Course of the London School of Economics.
 
He is a board member of the Space Week International Association, a member of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society in the United States, and an observer representative to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. In 2005 he served as a participant in the workshop on "Humanity and Space the Next Thousand Years" hosted by the Foundation for the Future and currently serves as a panel member of the Association of Space Explorers workshop on mitigation policy for threats from near earth objects. He is a cofounder of the International Institute for Space Commerce.
 
Seeing universities as nodes in an interconnected lattice of educational opportunities, Michael has been responsible for concluding partnership agreements with Universities in Australia, Asia, North America, and Europe and has brought ISU into the Space Education Consortium in the United States as the only international partner in that body.
 
During his tenure as President of the International Space University, the school's already widely respected curriculum has been enhanced to include more material on satellite operations, management challenges of space projects, personal spaceflight, entrepreneurship, space policy, and prospects for commercial activity in space.
 
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