Simone Marie Askew is a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. In 2017, she became the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman to earn the role of First Captain, leader of the Corps of Cadets. This is regarded as a major step in

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

and

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

within the United States military. She graduated from West Point in 2018 with a BS in

international studies International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

. She was also named by Glamour magazine as one of the top 10 College Women of the Year. Askew is a 2014 graduate of Fairfax High School in Virginia. She was granted a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

in 2017. Askew earned a MSc with merit in refugee and forced migration studies from the

Refugee Studies Centre The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) was established in 1982, as part of the University of Oxford's Department of International Development (Queen Elizabeth House), in order to promote the understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migrati ...

in 2019, and is currently pursuing MPP from the

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is the school of public policy of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The School was founded in 2010 following a £75 million donation from business magnate Len Blavatnik, supported by £26 million fro ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Askew, Simone Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century African-American military personnel 21st-century African-American women African-American female military personnel African-American United States Army personnel American Rhodes Scholars Fairfax High School (Fairfax, Virginia) alumni Female United States Army officers Military personnel from Virginia United States Military Academy alumni