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Reuben Brigety

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Reuben E. Brigety II
United States Ambassador to South Africa
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 11, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byLana Marks
Vice-Chancellor and President of Sewanee: The University of the South
In office
June 17, 2020 – December 21, 2021
Preceded byJohn McCardell Jr.
Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University
In office
October 1, 2015 – May 30, 2020
Succeeded byAlyssa Ayres
United States Ambassador to the African Union
In office
September 3, 2013 – August 1, 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byMichael Battle
Succeeded byMary Beth Leonard
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
In office
November 14, 2011 – September 3, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Secretary
Personal details
Born
Reuben E. Brigety II

(1973-09-07) September 7, 1973 (age 51)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
SpouseLeelie Selassie
EducationUnited States Naval Academy (BS)
Cambridge University (MA, PhD)
Military service
Branch/service United States Navy

Reuben E. Brigety II (born September 7, 1973) is an American diplomat and academic who has served as the United States ambassador to South Africa since 2022. He was the vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, from 2020 to 2021.

Previously Brigety served as the dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Prior to that, Brigety has served as United States ambassador to the African Union, as a deputy assistant secretary of state, and as permanent representative to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Early life and education

Brigety speaking at the Washington Foreign Press Center, 2010.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Brigety is the son of Reuben Brigety, a physician, and Barbara Brigety, an educator and school administrator. He graduated from Sandalwood High School as the salutatorian.[1] He applied to the United States Naval Academy, and was appointed there as part of the Class of 1995. At the academy, served as the Midshipman Brigade Commander during his senior year. He earned a Bachelor of Science in political science and graduated as a Distinguished Naval Graduate.[1][2]

After graduation, he served in The Pentagon. Through the Thomas G. Pownall Scholarship awarded him from the Naval Academy Alumni Association, he spent two years at the University of Cambridge in England, where he obtained a Master of Philosophy in international relations. Brigety then served as an active duty U.S. naval officer, and entered training to be a submarine officer.[1] Determined to dedicate himself to humanitarian causes, he requested and received an honorable discharge and returned to study at Cambridge and earned Doctor of Philosophy, also in international relations.[1][2]

Career

From August 2003 to April 2009, Brigety was as an assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University and at the American University School of International Service. In addition, he was a researcher with the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch from August 2001 through May 2003, conducting research missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.[2]

Brigety speaking at Chatham House: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London.

From January 2007 to January 2008, Brigety served as a special assistant in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at the United States Agency for International Development. From January 2008 to November 2009, he served as director of the Sustainable Security Program at the Center for American Progress. From November 2008 to January 2009, he also served as a senior advisor for Development and Security to the U.S. Central Command Assessment Team in Washington and in Doha, Qatar.[2]

From December 2009 to November 2011, he served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. In this capacity, he supervised U.S. refugee programs in Africa, managed U.S. humanitarian diplomacy with major international partners, and oversaw the development of international migration policy.[2]

Brigety was appointed deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of African Affairs on November 14, 2011, with responsibility for Southern African and Regional Security Affairs,[2] and served in that capacity until September 3, 2013. From that date, he served as the appointed Representative of the United States of America to the African Union and Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN Economic Commission for Africa.[3]

In August 2015, the George Washington University announced they had selected Ambassador Brigety for the dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs. He began serving in that capacity on October 1, 2015.[4]

Brigety is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a recipient of the council's International Affairs Fellowship.[2]

Time at Sewanee

On February 28, 2020, he was announced as the next vice-chancellor and president of Sewanee: The University of the South,[5] a position he began on June 17, 2020.[6] (The vice-chancellor is Sewanee's chief academic officer, on the British model of higher education.) In one of his first actions as vice-chancellor, Brigety proposed new enforcement measures which were more consistent with the university's drug policy.[7][8] This policy was announced alongside Brigety's four themes for what he deemed a "year of discernment." These themes are achieving national preeminence in academics, strengthening commitment to equality and inclusion, increased focus on global citizenship, and the economic development of the Domain to increase amenities.[9]

The University of the South has perhaps the strongest historic connection to anti-Black racism and the Confederacy of any school in the South.[10] It was founded in 1857 specifically to create a Southern university free of Northern influences.[11] Its campus is studded with monuments to the Confederacy; both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were offered the vice-chancellorship after the Civil War.[12]

Brigety was the first African American to serve as Sewanee's vice-chancellor, at a time when its student body was only 4% Black.[13] He faced significant opposition from some white students, including repeated vandalism of his home.[14] On February 7, 2021, Brigety gave a speech to the student body in which he described the vandalism, saying "The sanctity, the security and the dignity of my family are inviolate, and we are not leaving."[14] A few weeks later, a group of Sewanee students were ordered to leave a men's lacrosse game against Emmanuel College for yelling racial epithets at non-white players on Emmanuel's team.[15]

Nomination for South Africa Ambassadorship

On December 1, 2021, Brigety announced his resignation from Sewanee, effective December 21. Brigety stated his resignation was due to uncertainty surrounding a possible nomination to be the ambassador to South Africa.[16][17] He was nominated for the post on February 4, 2022.[18] Hearings were held on his nomination before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 24, 2022. The committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on June 23, 2022.[19] Brigety was confirmed by the Senate on July 21, 2022 via a vote of 55-40.[20] He presented his credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa on August 11, 2022.[21]

Personal life

Brigety speaks Spanish, French, and Amharic.[18]

Bibliography

  • Brigety, Reuben E. (2016). "The New Pan-Africanism: Implications for US Africa Policy". Survival. 58 (4): 159–176. doi:10.1080/00396338.2016.1186985. S2CID 156964424.
  • Swords and Ploughshares; Sustainable Security in Afghanistan Requires Sweeping U.S. Policy Overhaul (PDF). Center for American Progress. March 2009.
  • Ethics/ Technology and the American Way of War: Cruise Missiles and U.S. Security Policy. London: Routledge. 2007. ISBN 9781135986117.
  • "Just War Theory and Child Soldiers". Rethinking the Just War Tradition. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 2007. pp. 131–147. ISBN 9780791471562.
  • "Caring for Carthage: Humanity as a Weapon of War" (PDF). PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Human Security. XXI: 88–98. 2006.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Soergel, Matt (June 13, 2010). "In D.C., Sandalwood graduate 'someone to keep your eye on'". The Florida Times Union. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Reuben E. Brigety II". Biographies of Department Officials. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. ^ "Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety II". Elliott School of International Affairs. Washington DC: The George Washington University. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  4. ^ "Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety II Named Elliott School Dean". GW Today. The George Washington University. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  5. ^ The University of the South. "The 17th Vice-Chancellor". Special Section on The 17th Vice-Chancellor. The University of the South. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  6. ^ "Introducing Vice Chancellor Reuben Brigety". Introducing Vice Chancellor Reuben Brigety. The University of the South. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  7. ^ thesewaneepurple (August 21, 2020). "Brigety reverses course on enforcement, submits student drug policy proposal to Regents". thesewaneepurple.org. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  8. ^ "Vice-Chancellor Brigety: Policy Update Aug. 20 to Students". Vimeo. August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  9. ^ Services, Sewanee Media (August 16, 2020), Launch of the New Year, retrieved August 19, 2020
  10. ^ McWhirter, Cameron (February 12, 2005). "Colleges suffer identity crisis". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on February 28, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  11. ^ Register, Woody. "Makers of Sewanee". The Sewanee Review. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  12. ^ "Telling the Sewanee Story" (PDF). Sewanee. University of the South. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Sewanee - The University of the South Diversity: Racial Demographics & Other Stats". College Factual. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Anderson, Nick. "'We are not leaving': Sewanee's first Black leader helps propel a racial reckoning at university". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "Sewanee reviewing racial insults in lacrosse game". ESPN.com. March 15, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  16. ^ Paulsen, David (December 1, 2021). "Sewanee vice-chancellor leaving amid reports he is Biden's pick for South Africa ambassador". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  17. ^ "Sewanee Leader to Resign, Says He Would Take Ambassador Job". usnews.com. December 2, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ a b "President Biden Announces 3 Key Nominees". The White House. February 4, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  19. ^ "PN1765 - Nomination of Reuben E. Brigety II for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. May 24, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  20. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Reuben E. Brigety II, of Florida, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of South Africa)". US Senate. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  21. ^ United States Embassy in South Africa [@USEmbassySA] (August 11, 2022). "US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben E. Brigety II officially presented his credentials to President Ramaphosa today" (Tweet). Retrieved August 15, 2022 – via Twitter.

Attribution

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the U.S. Department of State

Media related to Reuben Brigety at Wikimedia Commons

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to South Africa
2022–present 		Incumbent
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