The Diplomat in Residence (DIR) for the mid-Atlantic region, Kathryn Crockart met with students, visited classes, and gave a talk about careers in the Department of State.
The Diplomat in Residence (DIR) for the mid-Atlantic region, Kathryn Crockart met with students, visited classes, and gave a talk about careers in the Department of State during a recent visit to Elon’s campus.
Crockart is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. The Department of State has 16 DIRs around the United States, and are tasked to provide guidance and advice on careers, internships and fellowships to students and professionals in the communities they serve.
Crockart returned to the United States in August 2018 from her most recent overseas assignment, at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (2017-2018), where she served as the Minister Counselor for Public Affairs. In this role, she led American public diplomacy efforts in Pakistan through robust outreach, exchanges and media engagement conducted by the Embassy and our three Consulates.
Her other assignments include the U.S. Embassy in London (2014-17), where she was the spokesperson and director of the Press Office. She served as principal officer at the U.S. Consulate in Medan, Indonesia from 2011 to 2014, leading all American diplomatic efforts on the island of Sumatra. She has also served in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Belize City, Belize; and both Frankfurt and Munich, Germany.
Crockart received her bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She speaks German, Indonesian, and Malay, and has studied French.
As a public diplomacy-coned foreign service officer, Crockart discussed the practice and significance of public diplomacy during her visit to Assistant Professor of Political Science Baris Kesgin’s Comparative Foreign Policy class. Her talk after this visit covered the different career paths within the U.S. Department of State, and explained the hiring process for both interns and full-time employees. Crockart’s presentations raised interest and appealed to many students.
The Global Education Center, the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies, and the International & Global Studies sponsored Crockart’s visit.