Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy

A Dean's Roundtable Series event at UCSD presents a talk by ambassador Christopher Hill on his life as an American diplomat in some of the most dangerous outposts of democracy.

An “inside the room” memoir from one of our most distinguished ambassadors who — in a career of service to the country — was sent to some of the most dangerous outposts of global diplomacy. From the turmoil in the Balkans to the brutality of North Korea to the war in Iraq, Ambassador Christopher Hill recounts the real life of a United States diplomat in his memoir “Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy.”

Hill was in the Balkans at the breakup of Yugoslavia, and takes readers from one-on-one meetings with the dictator Slobodan Milosevic, to Bosnia and Kosovo, and to the Dayton conference, where a truce was brokered. Hill draws upon lessons learned as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon early on in his career and details his prodigious experience as a U.S. ambassador.

Speaker

Ambassador Christopher Hill is the dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, a position he has held since September 2010. He is author of “Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy,” a memoir recounting his work as a four-time United States ambassador nominated by three different presidents.

Hill’s last post was as ambassador to Iraq, 2009 - 2010. Prior, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, during which he was the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea for the six-party talks concerning the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

He was the ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Poland and the Republic of Macedonia, and also served as special envoy to Kosovo and negotiator of the Dayton Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He received the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions in the Bosnia peace settlement, and the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis.

Earlier in his foreign service career, Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul and Tirana, and on the Department of State's Policy Planning staff and Operation Center. Prior to joining the foreign service, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer where he supervised credit unions in rural Cameroon, West Africa.

UC San Diego Bookstore will be selling copies of Hill’s book “Outpost,” and he will gladly sign copies at the conclusion of his talk.