George Bush, 41st President of the United States, will host Ryan Crocker, the former United States Ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon, on March 9 for the Lenore and Francis Humphrys International Speakers Program.
The program is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University. Free tickets are available beginning Friday (Feb. 13).
The Humphrys Program, sponsored by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, brings to the George Bush Presidential Library Center and the Texas A&M campus world leaders, current and past practitioners, and renowned international affairs scholars.
The purpose of the program is to bring to public attention to relevant international issues that face the United States and to provide a dialogue in search of solutions for the promotion of world peace and stability. The program is especially geared toward students who will have the opportunity to augment their academic experience by exposing them to important international issues. In addition, it presents students the opportunity to build on their classroom experience through interaction with world leaders and others who shape international events. The program features two lectures per year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
Crocker served as the United States Ambassador to Iraq from March 2007 to February 2009. A career member of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Crocker has also served as Ambassador to Pakistan, Kuwait, Syria, and Lebanon. Other notable assignments over his 37-year career with the Department of State include Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Director of Governance for Coalition Provisional Affairs in Iraq and the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College. Ambassador Crocker was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion in 1982 and the bombing of the Embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983. In 2002, he was sent to Kabul to reopen the United States Embassy in Afghanistan. In 2004, he was given the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the Foreign Service.
Ambassador Crocker grew up in an Air Force family and attended schools in Canada, Morocco, Turkey, and the United States. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Whitman University. He is married to Christine Barnes, a retired Foreign Service secretary. They met in Baghdad in 1979.
Ambassador Crocker has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work in the Foreign Service, including Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards, the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. He received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for “exceptional courage and leadership” in Afghanistan. In January 2009, President Bush conferred on him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Free tickets are available at the Bryan-College Station Convention & Visitors Bureau, KBTX-TV, WTAW, “The Bryan/College Station Eagle,” the Texas A&M University MSC Box Office and the Museum at the George Bush Presidential Library.
