DU creates new professorship, aiming for bigger diplomatic role
The University of Denver says it wants to play a bigger role in world events and is kickstarting those efforts by giving former ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill a new job.
Hill, dean of DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies for the past seven years, on Tuesday was named chief adviser to the chancellor for global engagement and professor of the practice of diplomacy, a first-of-its-kind role for a major American university, school officials said.
In this newly created role, Hill will provide leadership on the global stage, drawing upon his experience and relationships with people, governments and organizations around the world, DU chancellor Rebecca Chopp said.
“We are living through a moment of dynamic and unpredictable change across the world,” Chopp said Tuesday. “As a university committed to serving the public and global good, we have an opportunity and responsibility to increase our footprint on the global stage. Ambassador Hill has an extraordinary track record of leadership, and his efforts will raise the visibility and reputation of our university.
“We are really building a whole university profile. I think the whole university will be seen as a strong global actor (through Hill’s appointment).”
Senior associate dean Pardis Mahdavi will become acting dean of the Korbel School.
Hill will use contacts he developed through years of diplomacy to position DU to be a leader in international study and initiatives, Chopp said. “Chris will be helping to make those contacts for DU and allow us to be seen as a global actor,” she said.
As DU’s first and only professor of the practice of diplomacy, he will lead undergraduate courses on the principles of and current trends in diplomacy and foreign policy. He will also host high-ranking international visitors and conduct lectures and other events to highlight global issues on campus.
“At this moment of dramatic change in our economic, cultural and political institutions, the University of Denver can be a powerful voice in the most important dialogues of our time,” Hill said.
“Working on behalf of chancellor Chopp and my colleagues on campus and across the world,” Hill said, “we will expand the university’s profile and unlock new opportunities for our students, our alumni and the greater community.”
Hill is a former career diplomat, a four-time ambassador nominated by three U.S. presidents, whose last post was ambassador to Iraq, from April 2009 to August 2010.
Prior to Iraq, Hill served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2005 until 2009 and also served as head of the U.S. delegations to the Six Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.
Hill received the U.S. State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis.