NATO's Top Commander Takes Post at Tufts

James Stavridis, a Navy admiral who serves as NATO's top military commander and supreme commander of U.S. military forces in Europe, will take over as dean of Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, according to an announcement from the school.

According to the announcement, he'll take over this summer from Stephen W. Bosworth, who's been dean of the school since 2001.

The announcement had the following to say about Stavridis:

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and has a master's degree and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School.

As the top American commander in Europe, he's responsible for 120,000 troops and oversees operations and diplomacy in 51 countries—a territory that stretches from the Arctic to the Middle East.

In his career he's commanded destroyers, Naval squadrons and, during the Iraq war, a carrier strike group.

He served as an executive assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Clinton Administration and as a senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush Administration.

Stavridis is a huge fan of social networks, with more than 13,000 followers on Twitter and 10,000 friends on Facebook.

He also tries to read a novel a week and has taught literature at Annapolis and Tufts' Experimental College.

The New York Times called him a "Renaissance admiral," the announcement says.

He's also authored "Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command."