The Center brings prominent statesmen to campus as Kissinger Senior Fellows, who bring their experiences into the classroom and teach undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students on contemporary issues in international affairs.
Harry K. Thomas, Jr.
Senior Fellow
2018-present
Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr. served as ambassador to Zimbabwe (2016-2018), the Philippines (2010-2013) and Bangladesh (2003-2005). He retired in March 2018 with the rank of Career Minister after more than three decades in the Foreign Service.
Courses Taught:
Economic and Trade Challenges and Opportunities in South Africa
Anne Patterson
Kissinger Senior Fellow
2017-2018
Ambassador Anne Patterson is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (2013-2017) and Ambassador to Egypt (2011-2013), Pakistan (2007-2010), Colombia (2000-2003), and El Salvador (1997-2000). She recently retired with the rank of Career Ambassador after more than four decades in the Foreign Service.
Courses Taught:
American Diplomacy in Authoritarian Countries
Dennis Ross
Senior Fellow
2016-2017
Ambassador Dennis Ross is counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Prior to returning to the Institute in 2011, he served two years as special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. For more than 12 years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations.
Courses Taught:
Statecraft and Diplomacy
Robert Ford
Senior Fellow
2015-present
Robert Ford finished a 30-year career with the Peace Corps and the U.S. Department of State in April 2014 and now is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, where he writes and speaks about Syria, Iraq and North Africa. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Syria 2011-2014, receiving wide recognition for his work defending Syrians’ human rights in the face of the Bashar Asad regime’s repression.
Courses Taught:
Turning Points in American Foreign Policy
Contemporary Arab Politics: From Nasserist Statism to the Islamic State
Johnnie Carson
Kissinger Senior Fellow
2014-2016
Ambassador Johnnie Carson is the former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs (2009-2013). Prior to this he was the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as the Senior Vice President of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
Courses Taught:
Contemporary African Issues: Africa’s Great Challenges and the Evolution of U.S. Foreign Policy
Marc Grossman
Kissinger Senior Fellow
2013-2014
Ambassador Grossman served as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the State Department’s third ranking official, until his retirement in 2005 after 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. As Under Secretary, he helped marshal diplomatic support for the international response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. He also managed U.S. policies in the Balkans and Colombia and promoted a key expansion of the NATO alliance.
Courses Taught:
Creating a Twenty-First-Century Diplomacy
Ryan Crocker
Senior Fellow
2012-2013
Ryan Crocker has had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service. He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years, but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as US Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2011. He has served as US Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-2012), Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997), and Lebanon (1990-1993).
Courses Taught:
U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1979 to the Present
American Statecraft: Middle East as Case Study