2025-26 “American Values” Program Schedule Overview
During AY 25-26, the CLE鈥檚 programming will join the Commonwealth in celebrating the events leading up to the United States鈥� 250th anniversary of its independence. Highlighting the character of our Founders, the annual leadership theme will focus on 鈥淎merican Values.鈥� Throughout the year, programming will reinforce the shared democratic core values, stressing honor, service to country, and integrity.
Join us in commemorating our nation’s 250th anniversary by participating in the following schedule of events:
Fall 2026:
- Aug. 14: Lean Forward – New Staff Orientation Training
- Aug. 17: LEAD Fellow Training
- Sept. 2: Convocation – Douglas Bradburn, Mount Vernon
- Sept. 4: Civil Discourse Initiative workshop
- Sept. 15: Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Dinner
- Oct. 1: Steamboat College Debate 鈥淩esolved: America Benefits from the End of the Rules-Based International Order鈥�
- Oct. 6: Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Dinner
- Oct. 16 & 23: Leadership Conference Facilitator Training
- Oct. 21: CSAB Superintendent鈥檚 Brief
- Oct. 22: Australian Military Attach茅 Visit
- Oct. 23-30: Leader-in-Residence Fall Visit – Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA
- Oct. 25-27: Annual Leadership & Ethics Conference
- Oct. 28-29: Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Leadership Induction Ceremony
- Nov. 4: (T) ODK Induction Ceremony
- Dec. 4: A Braver Campus Debate
Spring 2027:
- Feb. 15-19: Leader-in-Residence Polymeropoulos Visit
- Feb. 26-27: 10th Annual Cyber Fusion and Virginia Cyber Cup Competition
- Mar. 23-25: Environment Virginia Symposium
- Mar. 30 – Apr. 2: Leader-in-Residence Polymeropoulos鈥� Final Visit
- Mar. 31: Superintendent鈥檚 Leadership Dinner
- Apr. 21: CSAB Superintendent鈥檚 Brief
- May 5 CSAB Awards
2025-26 Virtual Offerings:
VMI Leader Journey Podcast
Leadership insights with cadets, alumni, faculty/staff, and VIP speakers involved in programming at the Center.
Virtual Leadership Engagement Programming (VLEP)
VLEP will occur on the Center’s social media platforms. We will feature posts on our Center 鈥淧aradigm Shift” theme and weekly #TipTuesday posts featuring practical leadership advice.
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Connect with the CLE on social media.
Courageous Leadership Speakers Series
Featured “courageous leaders” come to post to engage with cadets, staff, and faculty, providing their personal insights. These speaker events are also open to the general public.
Their role as influencers helps support our mission of enhancing the VMI community’s leadership development journey and raising the Institute’s profile to a broader national audience.
Lance Corporal (Ret.) William 鈥淜yle鈥� Carpenter: Medal of Honor Recipient and author of “You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For”
Monday, Mar. 9, at 10:30 a.m. in Cameron Hall, All-Corps Event
For action in 2010 in Afghanistan, Lance Corporal William Kyle Carpenter was the youngest Marine to ever receive the For action in Iraq in 2004, was the first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. Both made a decision to protect their fellow Marines by jumping on a grenade.
William “Kyle” Carpenter (born October 17, 1989) is a medically retired United States Marine who received the United States’ highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2010. Kyle Carpenter was the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient at the time.
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Kyle grew up in a loving household where sports, hard work, and dedication were supported. While this is a Marine who, as he says, “cuddled a grenade” and lived to tell about it, he is another example of how good men answer the call. His is also a story of overcoming the devastation of war with family love and hard work.
He was born in Mississippi and spent some time in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. His family ended up in South Carolina, which he calls home. He had the typical “young boy in the south” upbringing. Football was his passion, younger twin brothers looked up to him, and he felt like he had a solid upbringing with loving parents.
Like many kids at the end of high school, their choices are college or military service. In March of 2009, he went off to Marine boot camp at Parris Island. He explained to “VeteransRadio.net” in a 2019 interview why he joined the Marines:
William Kyle Carpenter: “I wanted to do something bigger than myself. Regret and unfilled potential is, besides hand grenades now, my only two fears in life. I just wanted to do something that was bigger than any one individual and I wanted to do it and not have the fear of waking up one day when I had missed my opportunity and have regret about not joining and not committing myself, and now my body and my life, to something greater than myself or any one person or individual.鈥�
Past Speakers
2024
- Marc Polymeropolous, “Leadership Lessons from the CIA” – View Talk on
- from Robert Child’s Talk during Black History Month – co-sponsored by the VMI Office of Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion and the Dean’s Academic Speakers Fund
- Brad Snyder, “Fire in My Eyes: An American Warrior’s Journey from Being Blinded on the Battlefield to Gold Medal Victory” –
2023
- Shaquem Griffin made history as the NFL鈥檚 first-ever one-handed player. View
- Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Scott Mann is a former U.S. Army Green Beret and author of Operation Pineapple Express. View and .
- Amber Smith is the author of Danger Close. She served in the 101st Airborne in Iraq and Afghanistan and was an OH-58 Delta Kiowa Warrior air mission commander. View Event and .
2022
- Former CIA Officer and FBI Special Agent Tracy Walder’s and . Walder is the 2022-23 General J. H. Binford Peay, III, ’62, Leader-in-Residence.
- Andy Milburn is a former Marine Special Operations Commander and author of ‘When the Tempest Gathers.’ View event and .
- First Casualty Speaker Panel featuring VMI alumni Col. Justin Sapp and Scott Spellmeyer: and .
2020
- Former NFL Defensive Lineman for the Ravens, author, and mathematician John Urschel – listen to our interview on the VMI Leader Journey podcast episode featuring Urschel titled “.”
2019
- 2019 Army Ranger , whose story was featured in the movie “Black Hawk Down.”
- 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers player Alejandro Villanueva – hear his thoughts on leadership with this podcast episode titled “.”
H.B. Johnson Jr.’26 Distinguished Speakers
The H.B. Johnson Distinguished Speaker series features top-tier speakers who typically have national reputations and renown in the military, public policy, entertainment, business, or other sectors whose personal stories and leadership insights align with VMI’s mission of developing citizen-soldiers of character and integrity.
These events are free and open to the public.
Past Speakers
- Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, U.S. Navy (Ret.), was the former commanding officer of the USS Cole when it came under suicide attack by al Qaeda in the port of Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000. Hear his on leading during crises held during our 14th Annual Leadership and Ethics Conference.
- General (Ret.) Robert B. Neller, Former Commandant of the Marine Corps, was the 37th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Hear his given at the 13th Annual Leadership & Ethics Conference.
- Staff Sergeant (Ret.) David Bellavia was the first and only living Iraq veteran to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
- Retired Army Gen. , former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces, Afghanistan, spoke on lessons learned from his book “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World” during our virtual leadership conference held Feb. 15-16, 2021.
- Retired Four-Star General Joseph Votel, Keynote for “Disruption: Challenging Leadership at Every Turn” on Tuesday, October 29th at 9 a.m. in Cameron Hall on the Post of VMI
- William “Bill” Bennett, Keynote, 2018 Annual Leadership and Ethics Conference “GRIT and the American Character”
- Robert Kaplan, Convocation 2016 speaker “Our Current Geopolitical Climate” – watch his speech on .
- Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster “Developing the Next Marshall: Trends in Future Strategic Leadership to 2040” –
- Daniel Rodriquez “Goal Setting: Achieving Your Goals”
- Kirsten Powers, Convocation 2015 speaker, “Free Speech on College Campuses” – watch her speech on
- Ray Kelly “A Conversation with Ray Kelly on his Memoir: Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting its Empire City”
- Retired Four-Star General Keith Alexander “Ethical Dilemmas Facing Leaders in American National Security” – watch his presentation on
- Retired Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman “The Bulletproof Mind: Psychological Preparations for Combat.”
- Edward Ayers, Ph.D. “The Shape of the Civil War”
- Nina Totenberg “The Supreme Court and Its Impact on You.”
- Mr. Edward Viesturs “No Shortcuts to the Top.”
- Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam
Caroline Dawn Wortham’12 Speaker Series
Established by the Wortham Family, this speaker series honors the memory of Caroline Dawn Wortham.
Caroline “Carrie” Dawn Wortham, passed away at the age of 26, on September 5, 2015, in Hanover County, Virginia. In her short life, she readily impacted others as a force for good and sought to serve God with passion.
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She was gifted with the skills to encourage others and challenge them to excel. Carrie lived fully and was never afraid of hard work…being persistent, disciplined, and driven.
Having vibrant red hair and a direct and poignant wit tempered by compassion, one always knew when they were with Carrie. Though being a skilled athlete and exceptional student with numerous academic and athletic accomplishments at VMI (among others; Cincinnatus Award recipient, President of VMI鈥檚 chapter of Beta Beta Beta, Regimental S-2 Captain, Women’s Track and Field team Captain, and 2011-12 Big South Woman of the Year) she remained humble and selfless.
Carrie graduated from St. Catherine’s School of Richmond, Virginia in 2008, going on to earn a B.S in Biology in 2012 at VMI. She then dedicated the next two years to Midwives For Haiti, a nonprofit organization which upholds the vision that “all Haitian women will have access to prenatal care and delivery with the assistance of a Skilled Birth Attendant.” Her love for and service to the Haitian people led to the opening of the 鈥淐arrie Wortham Birth Center鈥� in Cabestor, Haiti, shortly after her death. Her final months were spent in preparation to matriculate into Marine Corps officer training.
Past Speakers
2023 – Retired Chief Jan Rader, formerly with the Huntington Fire Department, WV. Hear her , “Compassionate Leadership,” given during the “Leading During Crises” Leadership Conference.
2022鈥擱achel Denhollander, a former gymnast, was the first woman to pursue criminal charges against Dr. Larry Nasser. She spoke at our “Principled Dissent” Leadership Conference. See the NBC News Channel 10 coverage .
2021 – Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author, Political Tribes. Watch her talk during the 12th Annual Leadership and Ethics Conference. Read more about the Evolving Civic Leadership Conference from VMI News.
2019 – Poppy Crum, chief scientist at Dolby Laboratories, adjunct professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and Program in Symbolic Systems
2018 (Inaugural Year) – Milana Hogan, author & chief legal talent officer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Convocation & Event Speakers
The CLE sponsors several guest speakers at major VMI events. Check the VMI Calendar, which includes an ‘Add to my Calendar’ button, for upcoming convocation speakers. Information may be pending or subject to change.
Past speakers have included:
- Peter Leyden, futurist, tech expert, and former managing editor of WIRED magazine – Academic Convocation 2023 – read the VMI News Story
- Deborah Lee James, 23rd Secretary of the Air Force –
- Nancy Giordano, Strategic Futurist –
- Robert Kaplan, Geopolitical Analyst and Author –
- Kirsten Powers, Fox News Political Commentator, and Author –
Questions? We’re Here to Help
Connect with the Center
Email: lawhornesk@vmi.edu
Phone: (540) 464-7396
Center for Leadership and Ethics
Marshall Hall, 500 Anderson Drive