Thursday, May 30th, 2019
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Jack Morton Auditorium
School of Media and Public Affairs
805 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20052

We are honored and pleased that Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering will be the keynote speaker at this year’s U.S. Foreign Policy Colloquium (FPC). The annual event will take place Thursday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m. at The George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium.

National Committee Chair Carla A. Hills and representatives from the Elliott School of International Affairs, the Chinese Embassy, and Chubb, one of FPC’s sponsors, will make brief welcoming remarks prior to Ambassador Pickering’s remarks and Q&A. A reception for guests and participants will follow. We hope you will join us to hear this distinguished speaker, as well as to meet the terrific Chinese graduate students who make up this year’s FPC cohort.

FPC brings together some of China’s best and brightest graduate students to help them develop a more nuanced understanding of the American foreign policy-making process. Now in its sixteenth year, the Colloquium provides opportunities for Chinese students in a variety of disciplines at universities across the United States to interact with current and former administration officials, members of Congress, and representatives from academia, business, think tanks, the military, and the media through lectures and site visits. These provide a firsthand look at how ideals, interests, history, institutions, and individuals influence U.S. foreign policy.

The keynote program and reception is co-sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and The George Washington University’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies and East Asia National Resource Center. 

This event is free and open to the public and media.

Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering is vice chair of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm providing advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad. Ambassador Pickering holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service, having served as undersecretary of state for political affairs under President Clinton and as U.S. ambassador to Russia, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, Jordan and the United Nations. Other senior positions included assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Oceans, Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and special assistant to secretaries of state William Rogers and Henry Kissinger. After government service, Ambassador Pickering joined The Boeing Company as senior vice president for international relations and led its transition internationally to a global organization. He chairs or serves on many not-for-profit boards, including The International Crisis Group and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Ambassador Pickering speaks French, Spanish, and Swahili fluently, and has working knowledge of Arabic, Hebrew, and Russian.