Academy Milestones
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The first banquet for National Academy students, held in the Mayflower Hotel in
Washington, D.C. in July 1937. Former Director J. Edgar Hoover is in the left foreground. |
A Milestone in Police Training
National Academy Milestones
07/29/10
December 10, 1934: Concept proposed by the attorney general and FBI Director.
July 25, 1935: First students begin their training.
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FBI National Academy
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October 19, 1935: First class graduates. Two-thirds later used their training to create programs in their home offices.
January 1936: Second class is launched.
April 2, 1938: Seventh class includes first international officer—R.M. Wood of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. More students from overseas soon followed.
1938: The first retraining session was held as a refresher for academy graduates, who had earlier banded together to form the National Academy Associates.
June 1940: A new building for National Academy training was finished on the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. That year, the curriculum was expanded to include many war-related topics, and many academy graduates were recruited as special agents to bolster FBI efforts to protect the homeland.
1962: By executive order, President John F. Kennedy encouraged increased attendance by international students.
Mid-1960s: The curriculum was changed to offer management science, communications, and behavioral science courses.
1968: An act of Congress authorized funds for travel and per diem for academy students.
May 1972: A new, modernized FBI Academy was opened, including improved facilities for the National Academy.
December 1972: Two female officers—one from New York and one from the U.S. Virgin Islands—became the first women to graduate from the academy.
1974: The first graduate course was offered.
June 17, 1976: The 10,000th officer graduated from the 105th session.
1981: The academy instituted the “Fitness Challenge,” which evolved into a series of seven difficult runs that culminates in the “Yellow Brick Road” endurance feat. The 154th session was the first to receive yellow bricks for completing the challenge.
January 9, 2000: The 200th session began.