NATO Ambassador Nicholas Burns to Speak at JHU SAIS Commencement
R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will speak at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) commencement on Thursday, 05/20 at 3 p.m.
Appointed NATO ambassador by President George W. Bush in 08/2001, Burns, a 1980 SAIS graduate, heads the combined State-Defense Department U.S. Mission to NATO.
His distinguished foreign service career spans more than 20 years. Prior to his current assignment, Burns served as U.S. ambassador to Greece from 11/1997 to 08/2001. He was spokesman for the State Department and acting assistant secretary of Public Affairs for Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright from 1995 to 1997. He served from 1990 to 1995 on the National Security Council staff at the White House, first as director for Soviet (and then Russian) Affairs under President Bush and later as special assistant to President Clinton and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs. His other overseas posts include assignments in Mauritania, Cairo and Jerusalem.
Admittance to the ceremony is by invitation only but will be open to the media for coverage. Graduation will be held in DAR Constitution Hall, 18th and D Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. Media should use the 18th Street entrance to the hall. Reserved seating for reporters will be available in balcony tiers L/M directly facing the stage.
SAIS is one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. The Washington, D.C., campus is located on Massachusetts Avenue in the city's Dupont Circle neighborhood and enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals. SAIS has trained more than 10,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs. During the graduation ceremony, SAIS will confer graduate degrees upon more than 350 students.Members of the media who plan to cover Burns' speech must register in advance with Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].