An Evening with Three Ambassadors

Event Sponsored by the Global Studies and International Affairs graduate program

November 21 at 6pm

Diplomacy is an art that countries rely upon to strengthen relationships, build alliances, and promote their national agendas.

At this “Evening with Three Ambassadors” you will hear stories and learn about life working as an ambassador in North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, in India, a top emerging economy, and in Norway, where the U.S. ambassador learned one month into his tenure that he would be hosting President Obama when he arrived to accept the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Three former ambassadors – one American, one German, and one Kyrgyz — will share their stories about what it was like to run an embassy and conduct diplomatic relations in places ranging from India to Sudan to China.  The event will be moderated by Mary Thompson-Jones, director and faculty member of the Global Studies and International Affairs program. All students and faculty are welcome and invited to pose questions in this unique encounter, sponsored by the College of Professional Studies’ program in Global Studies and International Affairs.

Additionally, two of these ambassadors will be teaching new Regional Studies courses this Winter quarter!

GST 6505: Regional Studies Southwest and Central Asia: Ambassador Beshimov (Thursdays)

GST 6501: Regional Studies: East Asia: Ambassador Loehr (Tuesdays)

Both classes are on campus and are now open for registration.

WHEN:

Thursday, November 21

6-7:30 p.m.

WHERE:  

The College of Professional Studies

101 Belvidere Street, Boston, MA  02115

(101 Belvidere is located at the Christian Science Center Plaza, in the Colonnade Building, the low building which runs along the side of the reflecting pool – a 10 minute walk from campus.  Enter at the middle of the building, alongside the reflecting pool)

 

WHO:

Ambassador Barry White served as United Stated Ambassador to Norway from 2009– 2013. A month after his arrival, he hosted President Obama who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He also went skydiving with the Norwegian Special Operations Forces at Rena Camp. On a sadder note, he lived through the day of July 22, 2011, when Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people. Before his diplomatic career he practiced law for 40 years at Foley Hoag in Boston. For 13 of those years he was Chairman and Managing Partner (CEO), in the firm’s business, corporate, international, and government strategies practice areas. He has been deeply involved in Boston in community services, and served as Secretary, General Counsel, and Member of the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and as Director of the Massachusetts Alliance for International Business. He holds an AB from Harvard College, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Ambassador Friedrich Loehr is a career officer in the German diplomatic service. He was Ambassador to North Korea from 2005-2007 and Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing, China form 2002-2005. He has held a number of distinguished German Foreign Office posts, including Minister-Counselor of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament; Adviser to the Policy Planning Group of the CDU/CSU party at the Bundestag; and Deputy Director of European Political Affairs in the Chancellor’s office. He has served overseas in German embassies in Algeria, Sudan, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Serbia. He also represented Germany in international organizations including the United Nations and the European Union. His finished his diplomatic career as German Consul General to the New England States. He has taught at the University of Rhode Island, Suffolk University, and is currently on the faculty at Northeastern’s College of Professional Studies. He holds a law degree from the University of Heidelberg and was a Rhodes Scholar, earning an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University, England, and is a former fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. 

Ambassador Baktybek Beshimov has a unique understanding of the politics of Southwest Asia. From 1998-2000, and again from 2007-2010, he was a member of Parliament in his native Kyrgyzstan, where he led the Social Democrats, the only opposition party. From 2000-2005 he served as Kyrgyz Ambassador to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. He also has considerable experience in academia. From 1992-1998 he was President of Osh University, and from 2005-2007 he was Vice President and Provost for the American University of Central Asia. Ambassador Beshimov holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with honors, from Kyrgyz State University, and has a Ph.D. in history from Kyrgyz State University. He is a visiting researcher at MIT’s Center for International Studies; a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; and on the faculty at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies.

Dr. Mary Thompson-Jones, Moderator

Dr. Thompson-Jones was a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, where she served as Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, a position for which she received a Superior Honor Award. As a Public Diplomacy Officer, she also served in Quebec, Guatemala, Sarajevo, Madrid, and Washington, D.C. After completing a tour as the State Department’s Diplomat in Residence for New England, she joined Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies as Faculty Director of the Master’s Program in Global Studies and International Affairs. She has degrees in journalism and political science from California State University, a MALD from Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an Ed.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.