Colonel Heidi A. Urben was commissioned as a Distinguished Military Graduate through the ROTC program at the University of Notre Dame in May 1997. A career military intelligence officer, her past assignment highlights include: deployments to Bosnia (1999–2000) and Afghanistan (2004–2005 and 2010–2011); various staff positions in the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and 25th Infantry Division (Light); command of an intelligence company in Hawaii; Military Aide to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; operations officer and executive officer for a counterintelligence battalion at Fort Meade; Assistant Professor of American Politics, Policy and Strategy in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy; and Commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Battalion in Hawaii. Colonel Urben is currently assigned to the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. In 2018 she will take command of a military intelligence brigade at Fort Meade.

Colonel Urben holds a B.A. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame, an M.P.M., M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, and an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College. Colonel Urben’s research interests include civil–military relations, mass media and politics, and public opinion. Her dissertation was titled “Civil–Military Relations in a Time of War: Party, Politics and the Profession of Arms.”