James B. Foley, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti from 2003 to August of 2005, is one of 16 Diplomats-in-Residence appointed by the U.S. State Department to serve on American university campuses this year. He is at the State University of New York at Fredonia for the duration of the 2005-2006 academic year. A native of Buffalo, Foley is a graduate of SUNY Fredonia and received an honorary doctorate from the SUNY Board of Trustees at the Fredonia commencement ceremonies last May.
 
(Editor's Note: See State Department website at http://careers.state.gov/general/campus/)
 
"Ambassador Foley brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this campus," said SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner. "He served in Haiti during one of the most tumultuous periods in its history, and has a distinguished career in other important Foreign Service posts. His yearlong diplomat-in residence assignment will allow him to routinely interact with our faculty and students, providing a better understanding of the complexity of foreign relations and enriching the learning environment we can offer our students."

Each year, the U.S. Department of State assigns Senior Foreign Service Officers to the position of Diplomat in Residence (DIR) at certain colleges and universities throughout the United States. The DIR program is central to the effort to recruit the best and brightest to represent America's rich diversity to the world.
 
"I had always wanted to come back to Fredonia," Ambassador Foley said. "I had very warm and nostalgic feelings about my undergraduate years here. They were some of the best years of my life, and I always dreamed of coming back…When I was here during the Commencement (2005) period, it occurred to me that this might actually be a time when I could come back, because I knew I was leaving Haiti. I discussed this with the State Department, and eventually they agreed – that for one year, I could step outside of the normal career path and spend some time here."
 
Mr. Foley earned a B.A. in English in 1979 from SUNY Fredonia, where he also studied French and Political Science. He studied international relations at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, France from in 1979 and 1980. He was awarded an M.A.L.D. degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1984. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Foley worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
Ambassador Foley joined the United States Foreign Service in 1983 and served in Manila from 1984 to 1986, first as Consular Officer and then as Political Officer and Staff Assistant to Ambassador Stephen Bosworth. He was later assigned to Algiers as Political Officer from 1986 to 1988. From 1988 until 1989, he was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and from 1989 to 1993, Ambassador Foley served as Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, rising to the position of political advisor and speechwriter.
 
Ambassador Foley was in Brussels, Belgium, as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General from 1993 to 1996. He served as liaison between the Secretary General and the NATO military authorities and was responsible for peacekeeping and Balkans issues. Following this assignment, he was a Special Assistant for one year to U.S. Senator Paul D. Coverdell of Georgia, under a Pearson Fellowship.
 
Ambassador Foley served as Deputy Spokesman of the Department of State and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs from 1997 to 2000, where he was often asked to conduct the Department's daily press briefings. He regularly accompanied the Secretary of State on overseas travel as acting spokesman. From July 2000 to June 2003, Ambassador Foley was the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva. He served as Chargé d'Affaires from May to October 2001.
 
Ambassador Foley is pleased to be back in the region after years abroad. "I’m really just so impressed with SUNY Fredonia," he said. "My family and I are so happy to be in such a beautiful part of the country."