MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Last month, the intellectual and leadership center of the Air Force kicked off the Air University President’s Distinguished Speaker Series here.
The goal of the Distinguished Speaker Series is to invite non-military experts in three different categories: leadership, industry/innovation, and thought leaders, to speak at an Air University-wide forum.
To start off the series, Air University welcomed Dr. John J. Mearsheimer, an R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and former U.S. Air Force Officer, who shared some insight from one of his latest books primarily focusing on national security issues and international relations.
In addition to Mearsheimer, who fell into the ‘thought leader’ category, AU is planning on inviting speakers from the other two categories to hopefully join us in April or fall of 2019, said Major Andrew Hunstock, Air University Commander's Action Group chief.
“This is beneficial to AU for several reasons,” he added. “First, it allows our students and faculty the experience to share, interact with and learn from these experts. Second, it helps increase the prestige and profile of AU. Lastly, it helps introduce new and exciting ideas into our professional military education curricula.”
Air University, Air Education and Training Command and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force have all stressed that our Air Force’s leaders will be faced with new and complex problem sets during their careers, Hunstock said. Events like the Distinguished Speaker Series, among many others, reinforce the Air Force’s desire to tackle those problems with innovative techniques.
According to Hunstock, AU leadership hopes that those who attend the speaker series will be exposed to thoughts, ideas and techniques for solving problems that are not specifically included in our PME curricula. The idea is that having an ‘outsider’ to military education will broaden our view of their respective field.
While no other speakers are scheduled as of now, AU is trying to have another event before the academic year is completed this spring.
Make sure to follow Air University on social media for updates about upcoming events.
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