Van Cleave received a B.A. in
political science from the
California State University, Long Beach as well as his M.A. and Ph.D. (1967) from the Claremont Graduate School (now
Claremont Graduate University). His dissertation was titled "Nuclear Proliferation: The Interaction of Politics and Technology," and supervised by
Harold W. Rood. He was Senior Research Fellow in National Security Affairs at the
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at
Stanford University. Van Cleave was Professor and Director of the Defense and Strategic Studies Program at the
University of Southern California from 1967-87. Under his leadership, the DSS program started in 1971 in the School of International Relations at USC. The primary objective of the program was to provide graduate level education and training for students planning careers in national and international security affairs, policy-making, and teaching at the university-level. The program moved to Southwest Missouri State University (now MSU) in 1987 where DSS became a Department offering specialized Master of Science degree. In 2005, the University moved the Department physically to
Fairfax, Virginia, to take advantage of the many opportunities that are available to the
Washington metropolitan area.
Military service Van Cleave enlisted in the
United States Marine Corps at the age of 17, and became a
Marine Security Guard at the
American embassy in
Vienna during the time of the
Allied-occupied Austria following
World War II. In 1957, he transferred to the
Marine Reserves, and became an officer. == Governmental and Professional Services ==