Skidmore Parent Stephen Fox to Lead Discussion on Careers in the Foreign Service

"My Life in the Foreign Service: Perspectives on U.S. Foreign Policy and Careers in the State Department" will be presented by Skidmore parent Stephen Fox on Monday, April 24. Open to the College community, the program is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Pohndorff Room of Scribner Library.

Fox is acting director of regional affairs in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He joined the foreign service in 1980 and has served as a consular officer in Guangzhou and Taipei, and as an economic officer in Shenyan, New Delhi, and Tokyo.

In Washington, he has served in the State Department's 24-7 intelligence watch office, worked on intellectual property issues with major Asian economies, managed refugee resettlement programs, and led the department's counterterrorism finance office. In his current position, he directs an 11-member office responsible for transnational issues in the Middle East and North Africa, including counterterrorism, economic affairs, science and technology, peacekeepers in the Sinai, trafficking in persons, strategic planning and Congressional relations.

Fox has served three times on details outside the Department of State: as a legislative fellow in the office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mt.) and the House Trade Subcommittee; in the intellectual property office of the U.S. Trade Representative; and in the international affairs office of the Department of Homeland Security.

Fox earned a B.A. in political science at Wabash College, a J.D. at the University of Illinois, and an M.S. at National Defense University. Before joining the Foreign Service, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand; as a teaching assistant at the University of Washington Law School; and as law clerk to the U.S. District Judge in Peoria, IL.