US Diplomat joins ECU as distinguished lecturer

An American diplomat who held ambassador posts to several foreign nations has been named the distinguished lecturer for political science at East Carolina University, and has scheduled an opening public address on U.S. foreign policy for next Tuesday.

The Honorable Peter J. de Vos is the new Thomas W. Rivers Distinguished Lecturer of International Studies in the ECU Department of Political Science. His appointment to a nine-month term became effective late last month after recent approval by the ECU Board of Trustees.

The Corondo, Calif. native began his diplomatic career in 1980 as the U.S. Ambassador to Guinea — Bissau and Cape Verde. He has also been the ambassador to Mozambique, Liberia and most recently to Costa Rica from 1994 to 1997. In 1992, he was the first Presidential Envoy to Somalia, and from 1987 to 1990 he held the post of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science. His opening public lecture at ECU, “Whose Human Rights — Ours or Theirs? The Human Rights Factor in U.S. Foreign Policy,” will be given on Tuesday, April 18 at 4 p.m. in Room 1031 of the General Classroom Building.

A reception will follow the address. The public is invited. The presentation is sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Office of International Affairs and the ECU College of Arts and Sciences. De Vos completed his undergraduate degree at Princeton University in 1960 and his Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1962.

He also completed studies at the National Defense University, National War College in Washington, D.C. Before his appointment at ECU, he was a Distinguished Guest Lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies.