Robert M. Gates '65, L.H.D. '98, Chancellor
Robert M. Gates ’65, L.H.D. ’98, William & Mary’s 24th Chancellor, is the first alumnus to hold this position in the university’s modern era. He began his first seven-year term as Chancellor in 2012 and began a second term in 2019. As the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011, he became the
only secretary in American history to serve under presidents from different political parties. In his words, William & Mary instilled in him “a calling to serve — a sense of duty to community and country that this university has sought to instill in each generation of students for more than 300 years.”
Gates began a career in public service soon after his graduation from William & Mary. In 1966, he joined the CIA, working for six presidents during nearly 27 years as an intelligence officer. During this period, he was a National Security Council staff member for nine years. Gates is the only career officer in the CIA’s history to rise from being an entry-level employee to become the agency’s director, a post he held from 1991 to 1993. He was previously deputy director of the CIA and assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor at the White House for President George H.W. Bush. In 2006, Gates took office as the nation’s 22nd secretary of defense under President George W. Bush and was asked to continue in that office by President Barack Obama.
In June 2011, Gates retired as secretary of defense. At the farewell ceremony, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. He has also received the National Security Medal and the Presidential Citizens Medal. Gates was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal twice and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s highest award, three times.
A history major at William & Mary, Gates was an active member of Alpha Phi Omega, a service organization that he led as a senior. At graduation, he received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, given to honor splendid characteristics of heart, mind and helpfulness to others. He has been a trustee of the William & Mary Foundation and spoke at Charter Day in 1998 and 2013, as well as Commencement in 2007. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university in 1998 and the Alumni Medallion, the Alumni Association’s highest honor, in 2000.
A native of Kansas, Gates earned his master’s degree in history from Indiana University and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. From 2002 until 2006, he was president of Texas A&M University. Gates is a distinguished Eagle Scout and served as the Boy Scouts of America national president from 2014 to 2016.
Gates has authored four books, including “Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World,” published in 2020. His book “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” was described as “one of the best Washington memoirs ever” in the New York Times and topped its list of best-selling non-fiction books for five consecutive weeks. Gates and his wife, Becky, live in Washington state.
