Theresa C. Carter is a U.S. Air Force brigadier general and director of installations and mission support for Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Ill. Carter is responsible for expeditionary combat support and provides oversight and guidance to garrison mission support groups at 25 locations around the world. Carter also oversees civil engineering activities at the base, including readiness, emergency services, base development and environmental and housing programs. She executes contracting activities totaling $4 billion for mission support. Carter entered the Air Force in September 1985 as a distinguished graduate of Purdue's Air Force ROTC program. A career civil engineer, she has served in a variety of positions on base at the major command and air staff level. She has commanded a civil engineering squadron, a mission support group and an air base wing. Her contingency experience includes service during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Southern Watch. In 1997, she was named the Air Force Senior Civil Engineer Manager of the Year. In 2003, she earned the Award of Excellence in Logistics Research and Writing. Carter earned her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue in 1985. She went on to gain her master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1988 and a master's degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. in 2003.