State Department official on campus April 28-29

Harry J. O?Hara, a counselor in the Senior Foreign Service who is a specialist in European Affairs with the U.S. Department of State, will visit Skidmore Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28 and 29, for a public lecture and visits with International Affairs students and faculty.

His talk, titled ?The State of the (European) Union: Pause, Reset, or Muddle Through,? will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Pohndorff Room of Scribner Library. Admission is free and open to all. On Wednesday, O?Hara will give the keynote address to the graduating seniors in international affairs.

O?Hara is director of the Office of European Analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at U.S. Department of State. His 28-year career in the Foreign Service has included posts in Washington, Argentina, Kenya, Bolivia, Brussels, and Baghdad, among other world capitals. He has filled many key posts in the State Department, including acting permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Program in Kenya and deputy director of the Office of Andean Affairs at the Department of State.

Along the way he has acquired a number of honors, including the following recognitions: Superior Honor Award (group) for work in Brussels on Turkish/EU accession, while assigned to the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, 2005; Benjamin Franklin Award for public diplomacy, while serving in the Department of State, 2002; Secretary?s Certificate of Recognition for contributions to the Department of State Task Force created in response to the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam Embassy bombings, 1998, among others.

O?Hara is a graduate of Columbia University, where he earned a graduate degree in international affairs, and Yale University, where he double-majored in history and philosophy.

His visit is sponsored by the International Affairs Program and has been arranged by Jim Kennelly, program director, and Roy H. Ginsberg, Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Professor of Government.