Volume CXXXIII, Number 1 September 7, 2001 f

Ambassador alum to speak on China
Office of Communications

Thomas R. Pickering '53, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and currently senior vice president for international relations at Boeing, will speak at 7 p.m., Friday, September 7, in Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus. Ambassador Pickering's appearance is sponsored by the John C. Donovan Lecture Fund.

He earned his bachelor's degree, cum laude, with high honors in history, from Bowdoin College in 1953. In 1954 he earned a master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Melbourne in Australia, and received a second master's degree in 1956. In 1984 he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Bowdoin, and has received similar honors from 12 other universities.

Pickering enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 1997-2000, and holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. He also served as president of the Eurasia Foundation, and as Ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Previously he served as a representative to the United Nations and as special assistant to Secretaries of State William P. Rogers and Henry Kissinger. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Presidential Award (1983 and 1986) and the Department of State's Distinguished Service Award (1996).

Ambassador Pickering joined Boeing in January 2001, and oversees the company's international dealings, including those with foreign governments.

Pickering's lecture, titled "The United States and China Now," is free and open to the public. Tickets are required, and are available at the David Saul Smith Union Information Desk on campus weekdays from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. For more information call 725-3375. Association of Bowdoin Friends members may pick up tickets at the McLellan Building, 798-7016.