Source: Charles Reagan, 785-532-6221, reagan@k-state.edu
Web site: http://ome.ksu.edu/lectures/landon/
Editor's note: Photo and bio available at
http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=166
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS TO GIVE LANDON LECTURE AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command, will present a Landon Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 27, in McCain Auditorium at Kansas State University.

"Gen. Petraeus, as commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq and now as commander of the U.S. Central Command, has been at the forefront of the war on terrorism," said Charles Reagan, chair of the Landon Lecture Series, which has a long history of bringing some of the most distinguished national and world leaders and policymakers to K-State.

As commander of the Central Command, Petraeus oversees U.S. forces in East Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He assumed the post in October 2008 after serving more than 19 months as commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq.

Prior to becoming head of coalition forces in Iraq, Petraeus commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth; was commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq from June 2004 to September 2005; and commanded the NATO Training Mission-Iraq from October 2004 to September 2005. He also served as commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), leading it in combat throughout the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Petraeus graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1974 and was commissioned in the infantry. He has had leadership positions in airborne, mechanized and air assault infantry units in Europe and the United States. His staff assignments have included aide to the chief of the staff of the Army; battalion, brigade and division operations officer; military assistant to the Supreme Allied commander-Europe; chief of operations of the United Nations Force in Haiti; and executive assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Petraeus received the Gen. George C. Marshall Award from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College as the top graduate of the class of 1983. He has earned a master's and a doctorate in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He also has served as an assistant professor of international relations at West Point and completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.

He is a recipient, and often times a multiple recipient, of several top service awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal for valor, State Department Distinguished Service Award, the NATO Meritorious Service Medal, the French Legion d'Honneur and the Gold Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm.