Ambassador (ret.) Barbara Stephenson
Former U.S. Ambassador
Barbara Stephenson, a former U.S. ambassador, served as an American diplomat for more than three decades before becoming the inaugural vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She is on the Advisory Council of Global Ties U.S. and the executive committee of the Commission on International Initiatives of the Association of Public and Land grant Universities. She holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Florida, an honorary Doctor of Laws from Queens University Belfast, and speaks Spanish, Dutch, and some French.
She treasures the space for dialogue and understanding about world affairs that World Affairs Councils and great universities like UNC nurture and sustain.
For Barbara, World Affairs Councils matter because they are stewards of vital civic infrastructure, enabling non-partisan discussion of world affairs in nearly 90 communities across the country.
