Retired Air Force Reconnaissance Officer Reflects on Decades of Service
Published: February 8, 2023.
Listen to Retire Lt. Col. Alan Glodowski reflect on his decades of serving in the United States Air Force at 5:30 p.m. February 16 in AS-158 on the Lewis University Romeoville Campus. "The Water is Blue" is free and open to the public.
Glodowski was commissioned through ROTC at the University of Wisconsin in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in physics, and later earned a master’s degree in physics from Creighton in 1990.
Glodowski spent most of his career as an electronic warfare officer. In addition to routine patrols along the Soviet, Chinese, and Libyan coastlines, he was deployed to Saudi Arabia and participated in the first Gulf War, taught physics at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and served as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force Cranwell Flight Test School in Lincolnshire, England. He was the first USAF officer to graduate with top honors in the 29-year history of the program in England.
He also flew missions with British and American reconnaissance aircraft during the Kosovo War and was stationed at the Pentagon as Undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition on September 11, 2001.
In 2002, Col. Glodowski was named to the NATO Expeditionary Air Forces Headquarters in Kalkar, Germany, tasked with providing innovative technology ideas for all aspects of NATO air operations.
In 2004, he moved to Naperville to become Commander of the Air Force ROTC program in Chicago until his 2008 retirement from active duty.
Lewis University is an innovative Catholic university offering market-relevant undergraduate and graduate programs to 6,500 students. Sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis University is nationally recognized for preparing intellectually engaged, ethically grounded, and globally-connected graduates who impact the world for the better. Visit www.lewisu.edu for further information.
