June Carter Perry (born November 13, 1943 in

Texarkana, Arkansas Texarkana is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Miller County, on the southwest border of the state. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 29,387. The city is located across the state line from its twin city ...

) is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and a retired American Ambassador (

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

from August 27, 2007, to August 28, 2009, and Lesotho from 2004 to 2007. In 2016, she was inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame. Perry is a graduate of Loyola University in Chicago (B.A., history, 1965) and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

(M.A. European History, 1967). In 2011, Loyola presented her with its alumni Coffey Award for her work in diplomacy and humanitarian affairs. Prior to her government career, Ambassador Perry was a lecturer at the

University of Maryland College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

in the history department (1969–1970). Immediately before she joined the Foreign Service, Perry was the public affairs director and a broadcaster for WGMS/RKO Radio in Washington, D.C., special assistant in the Community Services Administration and the public affairs director for the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...

, the ACTION agency, and VISTA. In the Department of State she was deputy ambassador in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(1998–2000) and in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

where she coordinated the international diplomatic corps during a military mutiny (1996–1997). In Washington, she was director of the department's Office of Social and Humanitarian Affairs overseeing U.S. liaison with

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Committees in Geneva and New York (2002–2004) following her service as diplomat in residence at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

(2001–2002). While in Lesotho, she arranged for funding that led to the first water delivery system throughout the country. In Sierra Leone, she helped the country transition from a very long civil war as well as an anti- AIDS campaign. She returned to the US in 2009 and retired from the U.S. Department of State in January 2010. In 2011, she became the Cyrus Vance Visiting Professor of International Relations through 2012 at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Subsequently, she was the Monroe Paine guest lecturer at the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri Columbia (2013). In the public non-profit sector, Ambassador Perry served several years on the board of directors at

Africare Africare is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. which provides development aid for Africa. It was founded by Dr. Joseph Kennedy and C. Payne Lucas in 1970, former Peace Corps members who worked in eastern Niger. Africare is the l ...

, the Washington Commission on the Humanities and as chair of the Federal City Public Service Foundation (2011–2015). She is currently on the board of directors of American Diplomacy Publishers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Selected Publications: “Broadening the Foreign Service: the Role of Diplomats in Residence” American Diplomacy August 2020. “Woman of Words and Action” Washington Post 2014. “Ancient African Heroines” Washington Post 1983, Bremer “Report on the Foreign Service” 1989, State Department, “Relevance of African American Studies” 2000, State Department School of Leadership Foreign Service Institute.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, June Carter American women ambassadors 1943 births People from Texarkana, Arkansas Ambassadors of the United States to Lesotho Ambassadors of the United States to Sierra Leone University of Chicago alumni Loyola University Chicago alumni African-American radio personalities American radio journalists Radio personalities from Washington, D.C. Living people Mount Holyoke College faculty American women academics 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American diplomats 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women