Published: August 26, 2008 08:19 pm            

Ambassador to kick off Woods Four-Star Series

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS — The Honorable Jean M. Wilkowski is a diplomat. She was the first woman to be appointed a U.S. ambassador to Africa, she headed the U.S. embassy in Zaire, and during her 35-year diplomatic career, fluency in French, Spanish and Italian enabled her to serve in the capitals of Europe and Asia as well as postings in Africa and South America.

On Sept. 18, Wilkowski will return to her alma mater, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, to kick off the college’s 2008-2009 Four-Star Series with a talk entitled “Abroad for Her Country.” Wilkowski’s presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. on Sept. 18 in the Cecilian Auditorium of the SMWC Conservatory of Music.

Born in an era when few women sought professional careers, Wilkowski graduated from SMWC in 1941 with a journalism major and a French minor, she next earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, and then she rose through the ranks at the U.S. State Department — from vice consul to the first woman U.S. ambassador to an African country and the first woman acting U.S. Ambassador in Latin America.

During her 35-year diplomatic career, Wilkowski was sent first as a vice consul to the Caribbean during World War II. She moved on to more challenging assignments in Latin America and Europe. For much of her career, she specialized in protecting and promoting U.S. trade and investment interests in such posts as Paris, Milan, Rome, Santiago, and Geneva. She also served during a revolution in Bogota, attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, and the war between El Salvador and Honduras, when she called in U.S. humanitarian aid for 50,000 war-displaced persons. In 1977 she became coordinator of the U.S. preparation for the 1979 United Nations Conference on Science and Technology in Vienna.

Since her retirement from active duty in 1980, Wilkowski has stayed extremely busy. Among other positions, she has served as governor of the Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired, consultant for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, visiting fellow for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and she served as one of six lay members on the International Policy Committee for the U.S. Catholic Conference.

She also recently released a book, “Abroad for her Country, Tales of a Pioneer Woman Ambassador in the U.S. Foreign Service,” in which she shares the story of her extraordinary career in the U.S. Foreign Service during the last half of the twentieth century. The book can be purchased online at undpress.nd.edu or amazon.com, and copies will be available for purchase after Wilkowski’s speech at SMWC. Wilkowski will also be available to sign copies of the book at that time.

The Four-Star Series, which was revived by SMWC President David G. Behrs, Ph.D., during the 2007-2008 academic year, is designed to bring talented performers and presenters to SMWC that will complement the College’s educational programs and be of interest to a variety of people in the College and local communities.

For more information about Wilkowski’s presentation, “Abroad for Her Country,” or upcoming events in the Four-Star Series, contact Jeff Malloy, director of campus life, at (812) 535-5219 or

jmalloy@smwc.edu.

        

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