Order AnnouncementsSeoul Commencement Speaker
Kathleen Stephens
U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
Kathleen Stephens arrived in Seoul on September 23, 2008 and presented her credentials on October 6, 2008 as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister Counselor, Ambassador Stephens was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 to 2007. From 2003 to 2005, she was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs with responsibility for the Balkans.
Ambassador Stephens joined the Foreign Service in 1978. Her overseas assignments have included Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal (1998-2001), and U.S. Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1995-1998) during the consolidation of ceasefires and negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. Earlier overseas assignments included consular and public affairs officer in Guangzhou, China (1980-1982), chief of the internal political unit in Seoul (1984-1987), and principal officer of the U.S. Consulate in Busan, Korea (1987-1989). Ambassador Stephens was a political officer assigned to the U.S. mission in Yugoslavia, shuttling between Belgrade and Zagreb, in the early ‘90s.
In Washington, Ambassador Stephens was detailed to the National Security Council as Director for European Affairs, 1994-1995. At the Department of State, she also had tours as the senior UK country officer (1992-1994) and as director of the Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation (2001-2003).
Ambassador Stephens grew up in Arizona and has longstanding family ties to Montana. She holds a B.A. (Honors) in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a master’s degree from Harvard University. She studied at the University of Hong Kong (1972-1973). Ambassador Stephens was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea 1975-77. Her foreign languages are Korean and Serbian. She has one son, a senior at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts.