A U.S. Naval Academy professor, who is a Lewiston native and the son of the longest serving woman in the Maine House of Representatives, was formally promoted to the rank of commander in a ceremony Monday at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington.

Claude Berube took the oath of office from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, during the ceremony. Berube formerly was a member of Collins’ staff.

“As a historian and author, he enlightens us on both our nation’s inspiring naval traditions and the challenges of today and the future,” Collins said during the ceremony.

Berube’s mother, Georgette Berube, represented Lewiston in the Maine House for 26 years before her death in 2005. His father, Gerald, was a veteran of World War II.

“I am extremely grateful that Sen. Collins, for whom I worked as a defense fellow 15 years ago, took the time to swear me in as a CDR in the USNR,” Berube said in a Tweet. “In addition to working for her and being fellow Mainers, her father and my mother served together in the Maine State Senate.”

While working as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Berube served on active duty in Europe and the Persian Gulf in 2004-2005 with Expeditionary Strike Group Five. He also spent time working as a national security fellow for the U.S. Senate.

After graduating from Saint Dominic Academy in Lewiston in 1984, Berube received undergraduate degrees in history and Russian studies. He followed that with a master’s degree in history from Northeastern University and a master’s in national security studies from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. His doctoral degree was earned at the University of Leeds in England. The subject of his dissertation was the Navy during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

At the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Berube is director of the History Department. Among the courses he has taught are American government, terrorism, campaigns and elections, intelligence and national security, maritime security challenges, naval history and emergent naval warfare.

The author of five books, Berube created the Connor Stark novels, a series of naval thrillers. His third book in the series is expected to be published soon.

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