Air Force Names UC Program Director 2018 University Employee of the Year

The United States Air Force has named Clayton Izumi University Employee of the Year. Clayton serves as a program director for the University of Cincinnati’s Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) Detachment 665.

Izumi’s detachment is one of 145 AFROTC detachments in the United States.

“It is a great to be recognized and honored in this way,” says Izumi. “There are a number of people doing great work and it is nice to be considered one of the best.”

Izumi serves as the university’s liaison with the United States Air Force. He is responsible for curricula development, providing instruction and general guidance to cadets as well as leading the administrative duties of the unit.

“AFROTC’s mission is to ‘Develop Premier Leaders of Character for the Air Force’ and that is exactly what Mr. Izumi personifies each and every day he comes to work,” says Lieutenant Colonel Steve Smith, commander of UC’s AFROTC Detachment 665. “Mr. Izumi puts in more effort toward the training and development of the AFROTC cadets and UC students than any other university employee in any of the 145 AFROTC detachments around the nation, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Our detachment would not be a leading character and leadership development program without him.”

Smith says Izumi directly contributed to the UC AFROTC detachment winning the 2017 Northeast Region High Flight Award (best medium sized detachment in the area), the Northeast Region’s Team Excellence of the Quarter, 1st Quarter 2017 Award and the Northeast Region’s 2017 Team Excellence of the Year Award.

“I enjoy working with the cadets and developing future leaders of our Air Force,” says Izumi.

Izumi retired from the Air Force in 2010 with 21 years of service. He served in a variety of roles including Aircraft Maintenance Officer and AFROTC instructor at UC.

Smith believes Izumi’s experiences as an officer and as an AFROTC instructor have benefited Detachment 665 in many ways.

“We have a utility infielder that cares about the mission of the unit. Izumi believes, like all of the cadre here, that the officers we produce are our scorecard for the future. They represent UC and Detachment 665 as they enter active duty in the Air Force. It is our obligation to give our fellow service members the best product we can so they can accomplish the missions the Air Force, Department of Defense, and the nation.”