Field Marshal Guthrie Reports for Duty at St Mary's

St Mary’s University, Twickenham has appointed Field Marshal Guthrie as a Visiting Professor in its School of Education, Theology and Leadership. Lord Guthrie has dedicated his professional life to the British Army, rising to Chief of the General Staff between 1994 and 1997 and Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 2001. Lord Guthrie's military career saw service with the Welsh Guards and the Special Air Service; he was closely involved in military operations in Northern Ireland and provided advice to the British Government during the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War. Since 2013, he has been Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University and is also a member of the House of Lords, sitting on the crossbenches for the last 14 years. Lord Guthrie will have a particular focus on teaching leadership courses, including the Catholic School Leadership and the Leading Innovation and Change MAs, which offers school leaders valuable, career-building academic qualifications and skills to get ahead in the teaching profession. He will also play a key role in the development of the School of Education, Theology and Leadership, a nationally and internationally regarded provider of Initial Teacher Education, Theology and Religious Studies Postgraduate programmes. St Mary’s Vice-Chancellor Francis Campbell said, “Lord Guthrie has a huge amount to offer our University with his incredible wisdom and expertise. In particular, our educational leadership masters students will gain the benefit of Lord Guthrie’s experience at the top of complex organisations. His record of leading public institutions which aim to serve and protect key elements of society and the nation reflects our ambition here at St Mary’s to espouse our values to the wider world. I look forward to welcoming Lord Guthrie when he takes up his position.” Lord Guthrie said, “It is a great honour to be involved with St Mary’s. The University’s School of Education, Theology and Leadership has a first class reputation and I hope to make a valuable contribution working with the staff and students in their beautiful Strawberry Hill campus.” Lord Guthrie’s first public engagement as Visiting Professor will be delivering a lecture entitled ‘Is Just War Theory still relevant in the 21st Century?’ on the 28th May. This is part of the concluding seminar in the ‘Ethics in Public Life’ public lecture series which Mary’s is co-sponsoring with the Von Hügel Institute (VHI), St Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, and Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars, Oxford University. Since retiring from the Army in 2001, Lord Guthrie has held several Directorships and non-Executive Directorships at companies such as City financier N M Rothschild. In addition, Lord Guthrie is President of several charities, including Action Medical Research, the Army Benevolent Fund, Soldier On!, the Federation of London Youth Clubs and the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association. A Roman Catholic convert, Lord Guthrie is a Knight of Malta and a Patron of the Catholic homeless charities Cardinal Hume Centre and Caritas Anchor House. Lord Guthrie co-authored the 2007 book Just War: The Just War Tradition: Ethics in Modern Warfare with Michael Quinlan, the former British defence strategist. Image: BBC