Paul G. Gaffney II

Paul G. Gaffney II
VADM Paul G. Gaffney II (Ret.), as president of National Defense University, 06/12/2000
Seventh President of Monmouth University
In office July 2003 – July 2013
Personal details
Born	(1946-05-30) May 30, 1946 (age 70) Attleboro, Massachusetts
Alma mater	United States Naval Academy The Catholic University of America Jacksonville University

Vice Admiral Paul Golden Gaffney II, USN (Ret.), (born May 30, 1946) was the seventh president of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, from 2003 to 2013, becoming president emeritus August 1, 2013. He was succeeded as Monmouth University president by Dr. Paul R. Brown.

Gaffney graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1968. Upon graduation, he was selected for immediate graduate education and received a master's degree in Ocean Engineering from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He completed a year as a student and advanced research fellow at the Naval War College, graduating with highest distinction. He completed an M.B.A. at Jacksonville University. The University of South Carolina, Jacksonville University, and The Catholic University of America have awarded him honorary doctorates.

He was president of the National Defense University from 2000 to 2003. Admiral Gaffney was the Chief of Naval Research with responsibility for science and technology investment for the Navy and Marine Corps from 1996-2000 and Commander of Naval Oceanography and Meteorology, 1994-1997. In July 2001 he was appointed by the President to the United States Commission on Ocean Policy, and served through the full term of the Commission until 2004. In August 2009, Gaffney was named the chair of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel (ORAP), a panel created by statute to advise federal agencies regarding ocean science and management matters. In 2012 he co-chaired the Decadal Review of the US Ocean Exploration Program. In October 2014, he was appointed as the first chair of new Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (OAEB).