Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill to Give George Herbert Walker, Jr. Lecture at The MacMillan Center
For Immediate Release
Contact: Marilyn Wilkes (203) 432-3413
Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill to Give George Herbert Walker, Jr. Lecture at The MacMillan Center
April 8, 2008. New Haven, CT � Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will be the speaker at the George Herbert Walker, Jr. Lecture in International Studies on Thursday, April 24. His talk, entitled “Pacific Perspectives: United States Diplomacy in a Rapidly Changing Asia” will be held at 4pm, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven. It is sponsored by the MacMillan Center and is free and open to the public.
Ambassador Hill was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on April 8, 2005. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service whose most recent assignment was as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. On February 14, 2005, he was named as the Head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Previously he has served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998- 1999). He also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southeast European Affairs in the National Security Council.
Earlier in his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State’s Policy Planning staff and in the Department’s Operation Center. While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as a staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues. He also served as the Department of State’s Senior Country Officer for Poland. Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.
Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a B.A. in Economics. He received a Master’s degree from the Naval War College in 1994.
The Hon. George Herbert Walker III, formerly the United States Ambassador to Hungary, established this lecture series in 1986 in memory of his father, a distinguished graduate of the Yale Class of 1927. Previous George Herbert Walker, Jr. lecturers in International Studies have included Jesus Silva-Herzog, David Lange, Bruce Gelb, Paul Wolfowitz, Edward Jaycox, George Schultz, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Madeleine Albright, Brent Scowcroft, James Baker III, George Mitchell, Richard Holbrooke, Carla Hills, Richard Haass, Tom Lantos, John Lukacs, and Strobe Talbott.
Contact Information:
Marilyn Wilkes
The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
(203) 432-3413