(AP) – Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers is helping the University of Central Missouri kick off a new lecture series.

The university says Myers will provide the first installment of the Servant Leadership Lecture Series on Wednesday in Hendricks Halls.

The series is produced in cooperation with Whiteman Air Force Base and includes at least one speech each year honoring former longtime Missouri congressman Ike Skelton.

Skelton died in October at the age of 81. He was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and served in the U.S. House for 34 years before losing re-election in 2010. He built a reputation as a moderate-to-conservative Democrat, an astute military historian and an advocate of the Armed Forces.