Dr. Gordon W. Rudd, professor and Dean of the Marine School of Advanced Warfighting SAW), served 23 years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army before joining Marine Corps University in 1996. He taught two years in the Marine Command and Staff College before joining the SAW faculty in 1998.  He has served as Dean since 2018. Most of his teaching is in the 7100 Operational Art curriculum with a focus on military history.  He has helped plan and has participated on over 50 overseas staff rides with SAW classes since 1998 in Turkey, Italy, France, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mariana and Palau Islands. He has an BA in Political Science from Virginia Tech, a MA in National Security Studies from the Naval War College, a MA and Ph.D. (History) from Duke University, and a MA (Great Books) from St. Johns College. His military background includes troop service in infantry, airborne, mech, and Special Forces units. He has served as a Joint Service Officer (JSO) and Foreign Area Officer (FAO). Overseas assignments included: Panama, New Zealand, Lebanon/Israel, Korea, Iraq, Bosnia, and Turkey. While in the Army operational participation included Lebanon 1984-85 (UNTSO), northern Iraq 1991 (PROVIDE COMFORT), and Bosnia 1994 (UNPROFOR). During the period 2003-2004, he was served as the Field Historian in Iraq with Office of Reconstruction & Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) 2003-2004.

He has published two books:

Humanitarian Intervention: Assisting the Iraqi Kurds in Operation Provide Comfort, 1991

Reconstructing Iraq: Regime Change, Jay Garner, and the ORHA Story