Southampton, N.Y. – C. David Ruvola, a retired Air National Guard lieutenant colonel who commanded battlefield rescue missions in Iraq and flew a harrowing rescue attempt during the “Perfect Storm” of 1991, has joined the Board of Advisors of the Homeland Security Management Institute at the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.
The Institute offers a fully online, graduate-level, 15-credit Advanced Certificate in Homeland Security Management. The program is available to professionals working in law enforcement, emergency management, the military, fire fighting and hazardous materials operations, corporate and private security, the intelligence community or another homeland security field, as well as to those who aspire to pursue management careers in such fields.
Ruvola joins more than a dozen of the nation’s top terrorism and security experts on the Board of Advisors, including Long Island Congressmen Peter King, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee; Steve Israel, member of the Armed Services Committee; Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton; Daniel T. Mullin, senior director of security for Major League Baseball, and New Jersey State Police Superintendent Joseph Fuentes.
Ruvola, a 1981 graduate of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, served in the New York Air National Guard from 1977 through 2004 as a pararescue specialist, flight instructor and squadron commander. During the 1991 nor’easter chronicled in the book and movie “The Perfect Storm,” he survived a harrowing helicopter crash while attempting to rescue a sailor in distress. From August through December 2003, Ruvola was the commander of the United States Air Force’s 101st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, based at Baghdad International Airport, supervising 80 personnel in combat search and rescue operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Dave Ruvola is a true American hero and a great asset to the Institute,” said Homeland Security Management Institute Director Dr. Vincent Henry. “He exemplifies the very best qualities of the professionals who serve our nation’s security needs.”
Ruvola retired from the United States Air Force’s Air National Guard with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2004. Today, he is a corporate helicopter pilot for Computer Associates. Ruvola is enrolled in a Master of Arts program in military studies at American Military University. He and his wife, Carmen, live in East Moriches, NY. The couple has three children: David, Natalie and Christina.
For more information on the Homeland Security Management Institute, call (631) 259-9074 or visit www.southampton.liu.edu.
