Patricia de Stacy Harrison (born 1939) is an American public relations executive and government official, currently serving as president and chief executive officer of the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

, a non-profit established by the federal government to support

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

radio and television broadcasting.

Early life and education

Harrison is a native of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She earned a bachelor's degree from the

American University School of International Service The School of International Service (SIS) is American University's school of advanced international study, covering areas such as international politics, international communication, international development, international economics, peace and conf ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Career

In 1973 she co-founded the PR agency the E. Bruce Harrison Company with her husband E. Bruce Harrison. While working with the company, which was sold in a merger deal in 1996, "she created and directed programs in the public interest comprising diverse stakeholder groups, including the National Environmental Development Association, a partnership of labor, agriculture and industry working for better environmental solutions together."

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

appointed Harrison to the

President's Export Council The President's Export Council is an American government organization that serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. The Council advises the President of government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade perfo ...

in the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

in 1990. She was elected co-chair of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

in 1997, serving until 2001, when she was appointed to the post of

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, a bureau within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cul ...

by then-Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...

. Under Harrison's direction, the State Department initiated the CultureConnect program in which American celebrities including

YoYo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese language, Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. ...

Denyce Graves Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. Early life Graves was born on March 7, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and w ...

Doris Roberts Doris May Roberts ( Green; November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades of television and film. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which bega ...

and

Frank McCourt Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. Early life and education Frank McC ...

acted as "cultural ambassadors" in trips to Pakistan, Russia, Israel, and other countries. In June 2005 she was appointed president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Later that year, the process by which she was selected was called into question by a report from the Inspector General of the CPB. The report concluded that then-CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson "was strongly motivated by political considerations in filling the president/CEO position". Tomlinson resigned from the CPB board on November 4, 2005, and was replaced by

Cheryl Halpern Cheryl Feldman Halpern was the chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) from 2005 to 2007. She has extensive experience with overseeing pro-American media campaigns abroad. In 1990, she was confirmed as a member of the Board for Inter ...

. Harrison remains CPB president and CEO . In 2015, Harrison gave public support to the work of the

David Lynch Foundation The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (or simply DLF) is a global charitable foundation with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded by film director and Transcendental Me ...

Books

*Patricia Harrison (ed), ''America's New Women Entrepreneurs: Tips, Tactics, and Techniques of Women Achievers in Business'', Acropolis Books, May 1986, *Patricia Harrison, ''Seat At The Table: An Insider's Guide for America's New Women Leaders'', Mastermedia Publishing Company, February 1996,

Speeches

*Patricia Harrison, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
"The Role of International Education in the Struggle Against Terrorism"
''U.S. Department of State'', November 25, 2003. *Pat Harrison

''The White House'', March 12, 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Patricia 1939 births Living people American University School of International Service alumni Assistant Secretaries of State for Education and Culture Corporation for Public Broadcasting