During the week of April 14, ISP hosted four current and former ambassadors on campus for a series of events celebrating the universitys tradition of international engagement: Willard Bill A. De Pree, Riina Ruth Kionka, Roger A. Meece, and Thomas G. Weston. All four have Michigan connections and three are MSU alumni.

Willard Bill A. De Pree is a retired U.S. career foreign service officer whose last posting was as Ambassador to Bangladesh. Prior to that he served as ambassador to Mozambique and had postings in Egypt, Cyprus, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. His Washington assignments include stints with the Policy Planning Staff, the Office of the Inspector General, and Director of the Office of Management Operations. Since retiring, he has continued to be active with the American Foreign Service Association and DACOR (Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired), and recently returned from a special assignment for the State Department in Lebanon and Syria. De Pree grew up in Zeeland, Michigan and holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan.

Riina Ruth Kionka currently serves as Undersecretary for European Union (EU) Affairs at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following a four-year assignment as Estonias Ambassador to Germany (2000-2004). In her current position, she has responsibility for a broad range of the Ministrys EU involvements. She has held positions with the Ministry since 1993. Kionka is an MSU alumna who earned a B.A. in 1983 with dual majors in International Policy Studies (James Madison College) and German Literature (Arts and Letters). She was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended public grade and high schools in the Detroit metropolitan area. She later earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Roger A. Meece is currently U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (since July 2004), where he had previously been Deputy Chief of Mission. He served as Ambassador to Malawi (2000-2003), and prior to that was Director for Central African Affairs at the State Department. He has also served in Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), as well as Canada. Meece earned a B.S. in mathematics from MSU in 1971, after which he served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone. He held several Peace Corps positions, including Director of the Peace Corps in Gabon. Thomas G. Weston is a retired career U.S. Foreign Service officer, whose most recent ambassadorial appointment was as U.S. Special Coordinator for Cyprus (1999-2004). He is currently Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Previous diplomatic assignments include Acting Ambassador to Canada (1996-1997) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, responsible for multilateral diplomacy with Europe and U.S. relations with the European Union and the Council of Europe. His initial tour in the Foreign Service was in Kinshasa (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) from 1969 to 1971. Weston earned two degrees from MSU, a B.S. in Social Science (1966) and an M.A. in Political Science (1969).

The feature event of the ambassadors visit was Diplomacy in a Single-Superpower World, a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 19. The discussion among the four ambassadors was moderated by Acting ISP Dean Jeffrey Riedinger.

In addition to the panel, ambassadors gave additional presentations and met individually or in pairs with administrators, student and community groups, and classes. Three were still on campus for the 15th Annual International Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 20.