Mattie R. Sharpless (born July 1, 1943 [1] ) retired after 41 years working for the Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). When she retired in January 2006, she had attained the rank of Ambassador, retired from the U.S. Foreign Service. [2] From July 2003 to January 2006, she served as Special Adviser to USDA's Deputy Under Secretary, Farm and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. From 2001 to 2003, she was U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic. [3]
When she was nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic, Sharpless was Acting Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). [3]
Sharpless holds a master's in Business Administration and Economics from North Carolina Central University and a B.S. Degree in Business Education from North Carolina College. [3]
Sharpless grew up in Hampstead, North Carolina, the daughter of James and Lecola Sharpless. She graduated from Pender County Training School in Rocky Point. [4]
Sharpless has received many awards including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, the Woman of the Year Award from the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the Superior Honor Award from the USDA and the Presidential Distinguished Service Award. [1]
Liberian foreign relations were traditionally stable and cordial throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a significant relationship with the United States, sharing close relations until the 1970s.
William Bryant Milam is an American diplomat, and is Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Ronald Ian "Ron" Spiers was an American diplomat who served as an Ambassador to several countries during the 1970s and 1980s.
Richard Monroe Miles is an American diplomat.
Richard Bordeaux Parker was an American diplomat, who was as a Foreign Service Officer, and an expert on the Middle East. Parker served as Ambassador to Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco.
Greta N. Morris is a former United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. She took office on August 26, 2003. She was replaced in the ambassadorial post by Clyde Bishop on December 6, 2006.
Suzanne Kreitner Hale is a former United States Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. The United States Senate confirmed Hale on June 25, 2004. She took charge on August 24 and presented her credentials the next day.
Henry Alfred Byroade was an American career diplomat. Over the course of his career, he served in Egypt (1955–1956), South Africa (1956–1959), Afghanistan (1959–1962), Burma (1963–1968), the Philippines (1969–1973), and Pakistan (1973–1977). A 1937 graduate of West Point, he served in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, and oversaw the construction of airfields in India and in China for the Fourteenth Air Force and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the Twentieth Air Force as part of Operation Matterhorn. After the war he was chief of staff to George C. Marshall with the Marshall Mission to China.
Kenneth Lee Brown was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Congo-Brazzaville. As a career Foreign Service Officer from 1961 to 1995, he served at the American Embassy in Brussels and six posts in Africa. At the Department of State he held the positions of Deputy Director of UN Political Affairs, Associate Spokesman, Director of Central African Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.
George Walter Landau was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela.
R. Niels Marquardt is a retired American diplomat and past CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1986 by retired Foreign Service officers, headquartered at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. It produces and shares oral histories by American diplomats and facilitates the publication of books about diplomacy by diplomats and others. Its Foreign Affairs Oral History program has recorded over 2,600 oral histories and continues to grow; its book series includes over 100 books. ADST is located on the campus of the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. ADST is the sole American private organization principally committed to the collection of documents about recent U.S. diplomatic history.
Ruth A. Davis is an American diplomat. Davis served as the 24th director general of the United States Foreign Service. She is the first woman of color to be appointed as Director General of the Foreign Service and the first African-American Director of the Foreign Service Institute. In 2002, she became a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and a Career Ambassador. She was the Chief of Staff of the Africa Bureau of the U.S. Department of State.
African-Americans in foreign policy in the United States catalogs distinguished African Americans who have and continue to contribute to international development, diplomacy, and defense through their work with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Information Agency, and the U.S. Congress, and other notable agencies and non-governmental organizations. The creators acknowledge the presence of the interagency contributions to the foreign affairs realm, and welcome additional content to showcase the achievements of African-Americans in other relevant USG agencies.
Mosina H. Jordan is an American lawyer and diplomat from New York.
James Keough Bishop Jr. is an American Foreign Service Officer, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Niger (1979–81), Liberia (1987-90), and Somalia (1990–91).
Robert E. Gribbin III is a retired American ambassador to Rwanda and the Central African Republic and author of In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. role in Rwanda.
June Carter Perry is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and a retired American Ambassador (Sierra Leone from August 27, 2007, to August 28, 2009, and Lesotho from 2004 to 2007. In 2016, she was inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame.