International Affairs Advisor
Ambassador Joyce Anne Barr

Ambassador Joyce Barr is a career Foreign Service Officer who joined the Department of State in 1979. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Pacific Lutheran University with a BA in Business Administration. She also holds a MPA from Harvard University and is a 2001 ICAF alumnus. In May 2008 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Pacific Lutheran University.

In 2009 she returned to ICAF as the International Affairs Advisor. Her most recent assignment was as Executive Director for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau at the Department of State. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia from 2004 until 2007.

Her previous overseas experience includes assignments in Malaysia, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Kenya and Sweden.

Ambassador Barr worked on a wide range of issues during her domestic assignments. She was a Recruitment Officer in the Bureau of Personnel and served in the former Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs as the Human Rights Officer for the Middle East and South Asia. She was also the desk officer for the U.N. Industrial Development Organization and the World Tourism Organization during an assignment to the Bureau of International Organizations.

She was detailed to Congress for one year where she worked as a Legislative Assistant for former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mississippi Congressman Bennie G. Thompson. In Senator Moynihan's office, she focused on the impact of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and the role of scarce fresh water resources in Middle East conflicts. While working for Congressman Thompson, she coordinated efforts to increase international trade opportunities for Mississippi's agricultural exports. While serving as a Post Management Officer in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs she participated in multi-lateral negotiations to obtain property on behalf of the U.S. Government. In a subsequent assignment, she was a Senior Watch officer in the State Department's crisis center.

She received Swedish and Russian language training and has earned several group Superior Honor Awards as well as Performance Pay Awards.

8/2009