Shirley Elizabeth Barnes
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Shirley Elizabeth Barnes (born 1938) is a former
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
diplomat. A career Foreign Service officer, she was appointed
United States Ambassador to Madagascar This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States, United States ambassadors to The Republic of Madagascar, Madagascar. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations since June 1960. The embassy in Tananarive (now Antananarivo) was establ ...
from June 29, 1998 to July 28, 2001.


Life

Barnes was born on April 5, 1938 in St. Augustine, Florida. When she was five years old, her family moved to Saratoga, New York.


Education

In 1956 she graduated from
Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...
with a Bachelor's degree in business. During her college years, she joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and became fluent in French. She later studied International Affairs at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
. She received a master's degree in business administration from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1970. She was a part of the Senior Seminar Class of the National War College graduating in 1995.


Career

Before joining the Foreign Service, Barnes became vice president in several major advertising agencies and worked for the Ford Foundation from 1961- 1965 in the Republic of Congo, Kinshasa. After returning to the U.S. in 1965, she worked for the historic African-American Institute in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. In 1983, Barnes joined the U.S. Foreign Service and became a General Services Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. She was promoted in 1986 to the Supervisor for the General Services Office at the Embassy in Senegal. From 1990 to 1992, Barnes worked as a Counselor for Administration in East Berlin, Germany. Barnes was the director of Western European affairs in the
Bureau of European Affairs In the United States Government, the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) is part of the United States Department of State, charged with implementing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in Europe and Eurasia (which it defin ...
at the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
and served as a diplomat in
West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
,
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
,
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
, and
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
. She was also consul general in
Strasbourg, France Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. In 1998, Barnes became the U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar and served until her retirement in 2001. In 2004 she founded the Barnes Findley Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting women and girls in the African Diaspora with an emphasis on anti-human trafficking and economic empowerment. Barnes received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2006 from Knox College. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the
American Foreign Service Association American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), established in 1924, is the professional association of the United States Foreign Service. With over 15,000 dues-paying members, American Foreign Service Association represents 28,000 active and retir ...
. She is also an avid patron of African art and speaks French.


References


External links


AMBASSADOR SHIRLEY ELIZABETH BARNES
Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training - Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
“Diplomat Shirley Barnes Is Confirmed For Envoy Post In Madagascar.” ''Jet'' 94.10 (1998): 37–. Print.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Shirley 1938 births African-American diplomats Baruch College alumni Columbia Business School alumni Delta Sigma Theta members Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Madagascar Place of birth missing (living people) Ambassadors of the United States to the Comoros Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni United States Foreign Service personnel American women ambassadors 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century American diplomats 21st-century American diplomats 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women