Johns Hopkins SAIS to host “U.S. Diplomacy & Women's Leadership in the MENA Region” webinar on June 8

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) will host the “U.S. Diplomacy & Women's Leadership in the MENA Region” webinar on June 8. The event is hosted by the school’s SAIS Women Lead initiative, Foreign Policy Institute (FPI), and African Studies and Middle East Studies programs.
 
Chiedo Nwankwor, director of SAIS Women Lead, will moderate a discussion featuring Kirsten Fontenrose, former Senior Director for Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council; Deborah Jones, former U.S. Ambassador to Libya and Kuwait; Anne Patterson, former ambassador to Egypt and Pakistan and former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; and Robin L. Raphel, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, focused on the challenges they endured while representing the U.S. in the highest foreign policy decision-making circles in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and more. 

Kirsten Fontenrose
Director, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council
Former Senior Director for Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council
 
Deborah Jones
Former U. S. Ambassador to Libya and Kuwait
 
Anne Patterson
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
Former U. S. Ambassador to Egypt and Pakistan
 
Robin L. Raphel
Former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
Former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia 

Chiedo Nwankwor
Lecturer and Director of SAIS Women Lead, Johns Hopkins SAIS 

10:00 a.m. -11:35 a.m. EDT
Monday, June 8, 2020 

This webinar is open to the public and media, with registration. 

Miji Bell
Director of Communications and Media Relations
Johns Hopkins SAIS
+1 (202) 587-3205
[email protected]
 
Jason Lucas
Communications Manager
Johns Hopkins SAIS
+1 (202) 663-5620
[email protected]

Kirsten Fontenrose is the Atlantic Council's director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, she was Senior Vice President of Global Relations for the Sonoran Policy Group. In 2018, Fontenrose served as Senior Director for the Gulf at the National Security Council, leading the development of U.S. policy toward the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Yemen, Egypt, and Jordan. Her interagency experience includes five years at the Department of State leading the Middle East and Africa team in the interagency Global Engagement Center. Previously, Fontenrose worked with a field team studying foreign populations for Department of Defense Theater Special Operations Commands and the intelligence community.
 
From 2000 to 2006, Fontenrose was responsible for building relationships with military officers and diplomats from the Middle East and South Asia for the Near East Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, after spending a year establishing the Center for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Fontenrose’s career began in the non-profit sector at the National Council on U.S.-Relations, and in the private sector working on U.S.-Arab business projects with Arthur Houghton Associates.
 
Ambassador Deborah Jones is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Libya from 2013 to 2015. Jones also served as U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait from 2008 to 2011 and as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey from 2005 to 2007. Additional overseas assignments include posts in Argentina, Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, Ethiopia (with regional responsibility for Eritrea, Djibouti and the Sudan), and the United Arab Emirates. Her Washington assignments with the State Department include the Secretariat's Seventh Floor Operations Center, as Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asian Affairs, Acting Public Affairs Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Jordan Desk Officer, Director of the Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs and Iran, and the Board of Examiners.
 
Jones has received multiple Department senior performance awards, including several Superior Honor Awards, and was nominated for a Presidential Honor Award in 2014. She was decorated by the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs with the sash of the “Order of Independence” in 2002. Jones chairs the board of the Hollings Center for International Dialog and participates on the Atlantic Council’s ad hoc Gulf Security Advisory Board. Also, Jones previously served as Scholar-in-Residence at the Middle East Institute from August 2012 to March 2013.
 
Ambassador Anne Patterson was the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and North African Affairs at the Department of State from 2013 to 2017 before being appointed to the Dow Jones Special Committee in April 2018. She served as Ambassador to Egypt (2011-2013), to Pakistan (2007-2010), to Colombia (2000-2003), and to El Salvador (1997-2000). She recently retired with the rank of Career Ambassador after more than four decades in the Foreign Service. 
 
Patterson also served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, among other assignments. She is currently a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale and a member of the Commission on National Defense Strategy. 
 
Ambassador Robin L. Raphel is an expert in political, security, and economic development issues in South Asia and the Middle East. As a career Foreign Service officer, she worked for nearly 40 years in foreign affairs agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. Department of Defense. She has served as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, ambassador to Tunisia, Vice President of the National Defense University, and Deputy Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction.
 
Raphel managed the sharp increase of development assistance to Pakistan under the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and she deployed to Iraq with the first civilian contingent after the 2003 invasion to help restore the critical food ration system throughout the country. Earlier in her career, she served in Pakistan, India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, and she taught history at Damavand Women’s College in Iran. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the board of the Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training. 

SAIS Women Lead's mission is to increase and amplify women’s leadership around the world to inspire balanced, sound policy decision-making. Its interdisciplinary courses and practicum program, Global Women in Leadership (GWL) (student-led organization), and SAIS Women’s Alumni Network (SWAN) provide students and alumni with opportunities to develop their leadership skills and collaborate on action-oriented projects that advance women. These programs, courses, and networks support students, faculty and alumni to integrate the study of women’s contributions to the field of international relations and promote the understanding that women’s empowerment is central to sustainable peace, economic growth, and transformational leadership. 

The Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) was established in 1980 to unite the worlds of scholarship and policy in the search for realistic answers to international issues facing the United States and the world. FPI seeks to advance practically oriented research and discussion about foreign policy. To this end, it organizes research initiatives and study groups, and hosts leaders from around the world as resident or non-resident fellows in fields including international policy, business, journalism, and academia. Read more about FPI here: https://www.fpi.sais-jhu.edu

A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today's critical issues. For 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school's interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.
 
For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins
 
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