St. John’s College welcomes U.S. Navy Rear Admiral H. Wyman Howard on Wednesday, April 12, at 8 p.m., for the college’s 10th annual Kristensen Memorial Lecture Series. Howard will deliver a lecture on “Leadership in Uncertainty” in the Great Hall, located inside McDowell Hall on the St. John’s College campus. The lecture is free and open to the public, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Howard, a fourth-generation naval officer and a 1990 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, is a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral with more than 32 years in the SEAL Teams and joint special operations. He has commanded at all levels of Special Operations, including service as commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare Development Group from 2011-2013. The combat contributions of the teams he commanded and with whom he served were recognized with five Presidential Unit Citations and four Joint Meritorious Unit Awards.
“The Kristensen Memorial Lecture Series, like the cross-campus Socratic seminars, has been a great opportunity to bring together Johnnies and Midshipmen to consider and discuss important questions they hold in common, before the students face off in the annual Croquet match,” said Dean Joe Macfarland.
The Kristensen Memorial Lecture Series, jointly sponsored by St. John’s College and the United States Naval Academy, honors Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen (AGI00)—an alumnus of the USNA and the St. John’s College Graduate Institute. Kristensen, a Navy SEAL, was killed in the line of duty in 2005 while leading a search and rescue mission in Afghanistan. His story is recounted in the 2013 film Lone Survivor. Learn more about Erik Kristensen and the Kristensen Lecture Series here. The lecture series has addressed subjects such as civilian-military relations, the principles of grand strategy and foreign policy, and the place of the liberal arts in professional military education.
The Kristensen Memorial Lecture Series is part of the college’s Formal Lecture Series, which offers free, weekly lectures to the public on the college’s campus at 60 College Avenue, Annapolis, MD, 21401. To learn about other events at St. John’s College, visit www.sjc.edu/annapolis/community.
