Secretary of State Colin Powell and
DIR June Carter Perry

For the past year, Academic 2001- 02, Ms. June Carter Perry, a senior Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State, has been serving as Diplomat in Residence at Howard University.

Ambassador Horace G. Dawson Jr., director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, where the DIR program is based, says Ms. Perry is doing "a phenomenal job" for both the Department of State and Howard. "She is a model diplomat, an individual of vision, capability, and achievement."

There is no wonder, Dawson said, that the DIR at Howard recently won the newly created title "Diplomat – in – Residence of the Year" in State Department competition.

Since her arrival last August, Dawson commented, "Ms. Perry has become one of the most widely known people on campus; and this is because of her interaction with faculty as well as administrators, but most of all, because of her extraordinary work among Howard University students."

She has lectured on international issues and on the Foreign Service in various departments, colleges, and schools; given talks before small groups, "but mainly," Dawson continues, "she counsels students; she is never too busy

for that." For lectures, counsel, and assistance of various kinds, her range has included the honors program, the schools of business and communication, the departments of English and history, and myriad programs in the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center.

Ms. Perry conducted numerous "roundtables" and "brown bag lunches" involving students, faculty, and diplomatic representatives on topics ranging from elections in Madagascar to challenges to women and families living abroad. She initiated "prep" sessions for Howardites taking Foreign Service exams and for large numbers of non-HU "takers" from different parts of the US.

Following up on the "Principles of Cooperation," the DIR arranged with the Department of English for the development by Kitty Ellison of a Writers Workshop, the module from which are now being used by all 12 diplomats in residence to improve the performance of potential FS exam takers.

Largely due to her encouragement and coaching, a record number of well over 100 HU students and alums took the FS examinations in 2001-02. Five of the "passers" have already become Foreign Service Officers, a record for HU and the nation. Another five HU students, two grads and three undergrads, were selected as Pickering Fellows during the year, also a record.

Named Visiting Fellow by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation in Princeton, Ms. Perry served on the 2002 national selection board for the Foundation.

As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Ms. Perry was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow; she received a few years ago a distinguished alumna award from her undergraduate alma mater, Loyola University Chicago. She regards her work at Howard as

"returning to my roots," having come from a family of educators. Her great-grandmother taught Latin at what is now Philander Smith, Ms. Perry says, and her parents earned advanced degrees in business administration and education.

The DIR is a senior FSO, having served as deputy mission chief – in Madagascar and the Central African Republic; as Acting Director for Policy for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Paris; as Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, and as a member of Vice President Gore’s U.S. – South Africa Binational Commission delegation.

Following her tour as DIR at Howard, Ms. Perry will return to the Department of State as Director of Social and Humanitarian Affairs in the Bureau of International Organizations, with a portfolio to include such UN entities as the Human rights Commission, ECOSOC, and Women’s Affairs.

HU Business Students
Retreat in London

Fifty-six HU students from the School of Business journeyed to London for a retreat with corporate sponsors and contacts in March.
The students, accompanied by Ms. Carol Henley, advisor, are in the School of Business Executive Leadership Honors Program, which featured the first part of the retreat experience in the U.S. in January.
During the retreats, the students are exposed to the companies’ operations, receive training in the various industries and leadership, and work on case studies.
In London, they were hosted by Eli Lilly, Salomon Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase. They also were received at the American Embassy in London, where they were briefed by Embassy officials including the Commercial Attaché.
While abroad, the HU business students also visited the London Office of the National Black MBA organization.