Interested in careers with the U.S. Federal Government and the United Nations? Join us to learn from Ambassador (ret.) Susan D. Page, Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Professor from Practice, University of Michigan Law School; former U.S. Ambassador, Republic of South Sudan. Ambassador Page will share her career and life experiences working in the Federal Government (State Department and USAID), United Nations (UNDP and UN Peacekeeping), international regional organizations (Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD), and international NGOs (National Democratic Institute, NDI).

Please note: This session will be held virtually ET through Zoom. This webinar is free and open to students, but registration is required. Once you've registered the joining information will be sent to your email.

Register at: https://myumi.ch/0WEb4

Ambassador Susan D. Page possesses deep expertise in international relations, particularly in Africa, excellent French language skills, and the political, legal and analytical acumen of a Harvard-trained lawyer – her first career.

Page was sworn in as ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan on November 16, 2011. Following her historic tenure as the first U.S. ambassador to the world’s newest nation, she served as Acting Permanent Representative to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., to the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She also chaired the U.S. Government’s multi-agency Security Governance Initiative (SGI) team for Ghana. Among her numerous positions in international affairs, Ambassador Page was Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) to Haiti, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Rule of Law, Global Focal Point (GFP) Review Implementation, deputy assistant secretary of State for African Affairs covering Central Africa, Southern Africa and Sudan, and Legal and Political Adviser to the Horn of Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Secretariat for Peace in Sudan where she co-drafted essential elements of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) for Sudan. In addition, she was Director of the Rule of Law and Corrections Advisory Unit of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Regional Director for Southern and East Africa at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington, DC, and senior legal expert in Rwanda and Sudan for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Ambassador Page is the recipient of several top awards from the State Department for her work on Sudan, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region of Africa. In 2015, she won the Sue M.Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service for “leading the U.S. Mission to South Sudan under extremely challenging circumstances and advancing the President’s goals.” Amb. Page gifted the $5,000 award to a local South Sudanese organization to support its community-led work in the fight against gender-based violence in South Sudan.

Ambassador Page is a member of The Carter Center Board of Trustees and an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD). She serves as a board member of Road Scholar, is on the Advisory Council of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) and on the Advisory Board of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. She is a member of the Association of Black American Ambassadors and numerous other professional organizations.

In August of 2020, Amb. Page joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as Professor of the Practice of International Diplomacy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy/Weiser Diplomacy Center with a concurrent appointment as Professor from Practice at the University of Michigan Law School. She is also a Faculty Associate of the African Studies Center, the Donia Human Rights Center (DHRC), and member of the DHRC Faculty Steering Committee. Ambassador Page was a Visiting Professor of Practice at the Keough School of Global Affairs at University of Notre Dame in 2019-2020.

Ambassador Page began her foreign affairs career at the U.S. Department of State in 1991 as attorney adviser for Politico-Military Affairs in the Office of the Legal Adviser following the conclusion of her Rotary International Postgraduate Fellowship to Nepal where she conducted research on women’s and children’s rights. Page was also a foreign service officer/regional legal adviser for East and Southern Africa for USAID, based in Kenya and Botswana, and political officer in Rwanda.

Originally from the Chicago area, Ambassador Page received her Juris Doctor (JD) from Harvard Law School, her A.B. in English With High Distinction from the University of Michigan, and Certificates of Distinction (English) and Merit (Psychology) from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland before attending law school. She loves reading, traveling, learning about other cultures, and playing euchre.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at is-michigan@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.