DURHAM, NC – NOVEMBER 09: ROTC presents the US Flag during the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Duke Blue Devils on November 09, 2019 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, NC. (Photo by Michael Berg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The University of Notre Dame, located in South Bend, Indiana, is hundreds of miles from the Atlantic Ocean and even further from the Pacific. The private Catholic research school is still 30 to 45 minutes by car to Lake Michigan, the closest major body of water. Despite that fact, the center of higher learning announced on Thursday that the United States Department of Defense honored the University of Notre Dame’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, or NROTC, as the nation’s top Navy collegiate program for the 2023-24 academic year.
The DoD had previously bestowed the same honor on Notre Dame’s Army ROTC program in May of this year.
The Educational Institution Partnership Excellence Award, established in 2020, is presented annually to a school and its host institution in recognition of an outstanding ROTC unit. The award is based on accomplishments in three main areas: performance, support for educational institutions, and other noteworthy achievements.
“We are proud of our Midshipmen and Navy ROTC leaders, whose character, discipline, and concern for the common good represent the best of Notre Dame,” University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., said in a statement to the media. “It is wonderful to see them recognized alongside our Army ROTC cadets, and on behalf of the entire campus community, we congratulate them on this prestigious honor.”
Origins Of ROTC
There are currently more than 1,700 colleges and universities that offer Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs, which prepare students for officer roles in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, or Space Force. The programs are currently available at both civilian and senior military colleges, while there are also more than 3,500 Junior ROTC units in high schools across the country.
The National Defense Act of 1916 established the federally controlled organization that became ROTC to ensure a continuous supply of trained military officers, notably in the lead-up to America’s entry into the First World War.
ROTC programs played a critical role in mobilizing and preparing officers during World War II, and the program has continued to evolve in the decades since. That included the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964, which established the scholarship program and the lifting of restrictions for women’s participation in 1972.
In 1986, the U.S. Army Cadet Command was also established to oversee the Army ROTC program, which commissions officers for service in all branches of the United States military.
Military Tradition At Notre Dame
Although Congress created the Naval ROTC program only in 1925, the University of Notre Dame has a long-standing military tradition that predates it by nearly 75 years. In 1858, William B. Lynch, a student at the private university, was approved to organize a military company.
That led to the founding of the “Continental Cadets” just a year later.
In 1918, the university established a “Students’ Army Training Corps, which served as a precursor to the ROTC program. More than 2,000 men who had attended the school also took part in the First World War, 46 of whom gave their lives in the fighting.
In the 1950s, Notre Dame became one of the first universities to host all three branches, with programs for the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force.
The Army program, known as the “Fightin’ Irish Battalion,” has received national recognition as a top senior ROTC unit, while the Naval ROTC program continues to train midshipmen for careers in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The NROTC program also includes affiliated colleges like Holy Cross College and Saint Mary’s College. Detachment 225, also known as the “Flyin’ Irish,” is the Air Force ROTC program that prepares students for careers as U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force officers.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2025/11/21/notre-dame-topped-navy-rotc-program-for-2023-24-academic-year/
