Katie Peterson,
Brig. Gen. Stephen Maranian, Army University provost and Command and
General Staff College deputy commandant, was promoted to the rank of
major general in a ceremony Dec. 2 in the Lewis and Clark Center’s
Arnold Conference Room.
“The armed services have a long-standing tradition of celebrating the
promotion of its members in a formal ceremony,” said Charles Davis,
deputy of operations for the Army University Visitors and Ceremonies
Office, who served as the ceremony narrator. “This ceremony is a public
recognition of the increased responsibilities that the service member
will assume. In addition, the ceremony also demonstrates the confidence
that senior officers, Congress and the president of the United States
place on an officer’s abilities to carry out new responsibilities.”
Maranian was commissioned as a second lieutenant of field artillery in 1988 from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.
His previous command and leadership assignments include commanding
Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division at
Fort Hood, Texas, and Kuwait; commander of Headquarters and Headquarters
Battery, Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood;
commander of 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment,
173rd Airborne Brigade in Bamberg, Germany, and Afghanistan; chief of
staff of the U.S. Army Africa/Southern European Task Force in Vicenza,
Italy; commandant of the U.S. Army Field Artillery School and chief of
Field Artillery and director of the Long-Range Precision Fires
Cross-Functional Team at Fort Sill, Okla.; and deputy commanding general
(maneuver) for the 2nd Infantry Division, Combined Republic/U.S.
Division at Camp Casey, Korea.
Maranian’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in business
administration and a master’s degree in human resources development and
strategic studies. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff
Officer Course, the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., and senior
fellowship at the NATO Defense College in Rome. He is also a graduate of
the Greek language course at the Defense Language Institute in
Monterey, Calif.
Maranian assumed his duties as Combined Arms Center – Education
deputy commanding general, Army University provost and CGSC deputy
commandant in June 2019.
“Today is a special day for the Army,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Lundy,
CAC and Fort Leavenworth commanding general and CGSC commandant. “When
we think about promoting a general officer from brigadier general to
major general that is a pretty big deal. That’s a very tight cut, a very
tough cut.
“When we promote general officers, we promote based on potential, and
it is not the potential to the rank that we’re promoting them to, but
it is the potential for more,” he said. “Not only are you responsible
for driving the intellectual center here and being able to deliver what
we are really known for as the intellectual center of the Army … you’ve
demonstrated that that is absolutely what you’re gifted at, and you’ve
got the potential to continue on as we move forward.”
Lundy said the ceremony also symbolizes the help Maranian received along the way.
“This promotion is a reflection of all those people who have coached,
taught and mentored you and helped you along the way,” Lundy said.
“Today is a day for you to reflect on that and be thankful.”
Maranian said he wanted to focus on a term most often glossed over in other ceremonies — humble.
“Whenever I preside over a promotion, in that moment when we take the
rank off to when the soldier being promoted is wearing the rank … it is
a moment to think about,” Maranian said. “Everything we do as leaders
in the Army is about the kids who just came in the military, and it is
about that leadership that we have to provide to them. That is humbling.
“The American people and our Congress vest in us the most sacred trust that can be given to a person in our country, which is to look after the lives and the welfares of our youngsters,” he said. “That is humbling.”