The first recipient of the Asia-Pacific Military Fellowship, Lieutenant Colonel Jaren Price, is looking forward to the opportunity to help forge a link between the U.S. Army and the University of Washington.
The fellowship is a partnership between the Jackson School, UW Tacoma and Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It allows a U.S. Army officer the chance to research a related topic for one year. Price will work closely with faculty advisers to research how changes in Japanese law will have an impact on Japan’s security relations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lt. Col. Jaren Price talks with an MAAIS student. Price is the first recipient of the Asia-Pacific Military Fellowship.
Price will share his research with the UW community and with the Army War College in Carlisle, Penn., before traveling to Washington, D.C., to present a briefing.
As part of the fellowship’s sharing of information, Maj. Gen. William Hix visited the University of Washington on Oct. 19. Hix is director of Strategy, Plans and Policy. His visit included a conversation with students in the MAAIS program, who asked about his views on Syria, Iraq, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine and Yemen. Hix was candid in his responses and emphasized that an effective Army is necessary to maintain credibility around the world.
Hix also met with College of Arts & Sciences Dean Robert Stacey, Jackson School Director Reşat Kasaba, and counterparts from UW Tacoma, including Chancellor Mark Pagano.
Jaren Price meets weekly with his faculty mentor in the Jackson School, Saadia Pekkanen.
Price said he is thrilled to have the opportunity to study at the Jackson School this year. “The Jackson School for years has had a phenomenal program,” he said. “It is great to be able to learn from the professors’ years of experience.” He said he also enjoys the different perspectives that students bring to class because of their diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Lieutenant General Stephen R. Lanza said the Asia-Pacific Military Fellowship “provides our best and brightest military leaders an opportunity to gain greater competency in the political, cultural, and historical frameworks of national interests.”
Price became interested in Asia after his first year of college when he traveled to Japan for a two-year church mission trip. He loved the Japanese people and their culture and, after returning to Weber State University, he minored in Japanese and made friends with several students from Japan. In 2008, he was assigned to South Korea, bringing him back to Asia for the first time. “This fellowship is a great opportunity for me to continue my interest in Asia as well as benefit the U.S. military as we put more emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
Most recently, Price was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky as chief of military intelligence enlisted assignments, where he oversaw the assignment of more than 20,000 military intelligence soldiers around the world.
Jackson School Director Reşat Kasaba welcomes Major General Hix (pictured center) to the Jackson School on the occasion of his first visit to UW as part of the launch of the new Joint Base Louis-McChord Fellowship. Jaren Price (pictured left) is the first visiting Fellow and will spend the academic year at the Jackson School and UW Tacoma.
Price himself had intelligence assignments in Korea, Iraq and Kosovo. He became interested in military intelligence at the Reserve Officer Training Corps in Utah, but did not go directly into intelligence after that. First, he worked in armor operations of combat vehicles, on-the-ground experience that he said has allowed him to better translate intelligence information so that other soldiers can be successful on the battlefield.
Price, along with his wife and three kids, are adjusting to life in the Pacific Northwest. They visited a cousin stationed at Whidbey Island and have done some of the tourist activities in Seattle, such as the Space Needle and the Underground Tour. “Balancing the class requirements and the schedule of a family with three active children can be a challenge, but I make good use of my commute time on the bus to do my reading assignments,” he said.
Read more about the fellowship and Price in the UW College of Arts & Sciences Perspectives.