Air War College announces top distance learning graduate Published June 5, 2009 Spaatz Center's Air War College MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Air University Spaatz Center's Air War College reviewed the academic records of its Distance Learning Program graduates for 2008, and of the 3,102 students who attended the DL program, a lieutenant colonel from Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., took top honors. AWC recognized Lt. Col. James Colebank at an AWC award ceremony May 28 as having the highest overall grade point average and presented him with the Distance Learning Academic Excellence Award for Calendar Year 2008. Of the 3,102 DL students, only 31 members, or 1 percent of the total, had an overall grade of "outstanding." The Spaatz Center commander and commandant of the Air War College, Maj. Gen. Maurice H. Forsyth, notified Colonel Colebank of his distinction and invited him to participate in AWC's National Security Forum held May 18-22 and the college's May 28 resident school graduation ceremonies here at Maxwell Air Force Base. General Forsyth presented Colonel Colebank with a model of the "Wright Flyer" to formally recognize his achievement. The award resembles the monument on Maxwell's Chennault Circle that commemorates the Wright Brothers' Aviation Training School established in Montgomery in 1910.