Retired admiral, UT chancellor McRaven to deliver LBJ Lecture

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
Office of Media Relations
September 29, 2016

University of Texas System chancellor and retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral William H. McRaven will deliver the LBJ Distinguished Lecture at Texas State University October 11.

The free public speech will be held at 7 p.m. in Evans Auditorium on campus. It is presented in conjunction with the Common Experience at Texas State.

Prior to his retirement from the military, McRaven was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, during which time he led a force of 69,000 men and women and was responsible for conducting counterterrorism operations worldwide. McRaven also is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders on defense issues. His book, Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice, published in several languages, is considered a fundamental text on special operations strategy.

McRaven’s military legacy goes beyond strategy and warfare. As commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, McRaven spearheaded the creation of the Preservation of the Force & Family initiative to ensure the mental, spiritual and physical well-being of those who serve, as well as their families. In 2012, Foreign Policy magazine named McRaven one of the nation’s Top 10 Foreign Policy Experts and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2014, Politico Magazine named McRaven one of the Politico 50, citing his leadership as instrumental in cutting though Washington bureaucracy.

Today he leads one of the nation’s largest and most respected systems of higher education, overseeing 14 institutions that educate 221,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 healthcare professionals, researchers and staff.

Born in North Carolina, the son of an Air Force colonel, McRaven spent most of his childhood in San Antonio, where he graduated
from Roosevelt High School. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 with a degree in journalism and received his master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey in 1991. He met his wife, Georgeann, while they were students at UT-Austin. They have three grown children.

About the LBJ Lecture

The annual Lyndon Baines Johnson Lecture, initiated in 1982 to honor the former president and Texas State graduate, recognizes the importance of education to the continuing prosperity of the nation. Through the series, Texas State works to perpetuate the former president’s high educational ideals by bringing outstanding individuals to campus to meet with students and faculty and present public lectures. Previous lecturers include former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, poet Maya Angelou, former President Gerald Ford and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.