NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
The Navy's graduate research university on the Monterey Peninsula.
OVERVIEW
The Naval Postgraduate School is the U.S. Navy's graduate research university, occupying a 627-acre campus on the Monterey Peninsula in central California. NPS provides master's and doctoral education in defense-relevant disciplines — engineering, computer science, operations research, business, public policy, national security affairs, and many more — to a student body of approximately 3,500 active-duty U.S. military officers, federal civilians, international military officers from partner nations, and select industry students. The school operates four graduate schools: Engineering and Applied Sciences, Business and Public Policy, Operational and Information Sciences, and International Graduate Studies.
The campus is built around the historic Hotel Del Monte, a sprawling Spanish Revival resort that once anchored Pacific Coast tourism in the early 20th century and was acquired by the Navy after World War II. The main hall — known as Herrmann Hall — houses the school's headquarters, library, and many of its administrative offices, while modern classrooms, laboratories, and student housing are arrayed across the surrounding campus. NPS is the only U.S. military graduate research university accredited to award the full range of graduate degrees in defense-related fields, and its proximity to Silicon Valley, Stanford, and the broader California research ecosystem makes it a unique node in the Department of Defense's higher-education enterprise.
KEY FACTS
- MissionU.S. Navy graduate research university serving the Navy, joint, and allied officer corps
- FoundedEstablished in 1909 at the U.S. Naval Academy; relocated to Monterey in 1951
- DegreesMaster's and doctoral degrees in defense-relevant disciplines
- Student BodyAbout 3,500 U.S. and international military officers, federal civilians, and select industry students
- CampusHistoric Hotel Del Monte main building on the Monterey Peninsula
HISTORY
The Naval Postgraduate School traces its origins to 1909, when Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer authorized a "School of Marine Engineering" at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to provide post-graduate-level technical instruction for Navy line officers. The school's mission expanded steadily through the inter-war period to encompass radio engineering, ordnance, aeronautics, and other emerging Navy specialties, and in 1919 the program was renamed the United States Naval Postgraduate School. Through World War II, the Annapolis-based school grew rapidly to meet wartime demands for technically educated officers.
After the war, Congress and the Navy concluded that the postgraduate school had outgrown its Annapolis facilities and required a dedicated, full-scale campus. After an extensive site search, the Navy acquired the former Hotel Del Monte on the Monterey Peninsula — a famous Pacific resort that had been used as a Navy preflight training site during the war — and the school relocated to Monterey in December 1951. The Navy renovated the rambling Spanish Revival hotel into Herrmann Hall, the centerpiece of the new campus, and built additional classroom, laboratory, and housing facilities on the surrounding grounds.
Through the Cold War, NPS expanded steadily as the Navy and the broader Department of Defense placed greater emphasis on technically and analytically educated officers. The school established master's and doctoral programs across an expanding range of defense-relevant disciplines and grew its faculty into a mix of civilian academic experts and uniformed military instructors. NPS-developed analytical methods — most famously in operations research, naval combat systems engineering, and electronic warfare — became foundational to U.S. Navy doctrine and weapons development.
The post-Cold War decades saw continued evolution of the NPS curriculum to meet the demands of joint, expeditionary, and information-age warfare. NPS established new graduate schools and programs in homeland security, defense business management, information sciences, and cyber operations, and its student body diversified to include a much larger international officer cohort drawn from partner nations around the world. The school also developed extensive distance-learning offerings to reach officers serving in the fleet. NPS today remains the principal graduate research university of the U.S. Navy and one of the most prominent professional military education institutions in the world.
MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS
- Naval Postgraduate School academic command (Office of the President)
- Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Graduate School of Business and Public Policy
- Graduate School of Operational and Information Sciences
- Graduate School of International Graduate Studies
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
NOTABLE EVENTS
- 1909School of Marine EngineeringSchool of Marine Engineering established at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis — the founding ancestor of NPS.
- 1951Move to MontereySchool relocated to the former Hotel Del Monte on the Monterey Peninsula and renamed the United States Naval Postgraduate School.
- 2002NPS Library ReopensDudley Knox Library completed a multi-year renovation, anchoring the modern NPS research enterprise.