Jean M. Wilkowski
Jean M. Wilkowski | |
|---|---|
 Jean M. Wilkowski, from a 1962 publication of the U.S. State Department | |
| Born | August 28, 1919 Rhinelander, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | July 27, 2016 (aged 96) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, University of Wisconsin |
Jean Mary Wilkowski (August 28, 1919 – July 27, 2016) was the first woman to serve as an American ambassador to an African country, when she was posted to Zambia from 1972 until 1976.
Early life and education[edit]
Jean Mary Wilkowski was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the daughter of Ernest William Wilkowski and Mary Margaret "Mae" Dorgan Wilkowski. Both of her parents were born in Wisconsin. Her father ran a hotel in Fond du Lac. She went to high school in Florida,[1][2] and graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana, with a degree in journalism. She later earned a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin.[3][4][5]
Career[edit]
Wilkowski taught at Barry College in Florida as a young woman. She joined the US Foreign Service in 1944, first as a Foreign Service Auxiliary, and then as a Foreign Service Officer, serving in Trinidad, Bogota, Santiago, Milan, Paris, and Rome.[6] In 1966, she became Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the American embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.[7] In 1969, she was briefly the Chargé d'affaires, the first woman to serve in that role in a Latin American embassy.[8][3] In 1971, she was awarded the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Award and in 2003, the Distinguished Alumni Award by her undergraduate alma mater.[9] In 1972, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order "pro Merito Melitense" by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta for her efforts to aid persons displaced by the 1969 Honduras/El Salvador hostilities.
Wilkowski became the first woman to serve as an American ambassador to an African country,[10] when she was posted to Zambia in 1972.[11] She organized Duke Ellington's visit to Zambia in 1973, and negotiated a Food for Peace loan from the United States.[8] She remained as ambassador there until 1976.[12]
Wilkowski later served as the American coordinator of preparations for the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development in 1977.[13] She was the first ambassador to lend collected artifacts to the National Museum of American Diplomacy, and after her death, her estate made the loans into permanent donations.[8]
In retirement after 1980, Wilkowski consulted for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, served on the International Policy Committee for the U.S. Catholic Conference, and was a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. She served on the board of trustees of Barry University, where she was added to the school's Wall of Honor in 2002.[14] She was a member of the DACOR Legacy Society.[15]
Her autobiography, Abroad for Her Country: Tales of a Pioneer Woman Ambassador in the U.S. Foreign Service (2008), was published by the University of Notre Dame Press.[16][17]
Personal life[edit]
Wilkowski died in Bethesda, Maryland in 2016, at age 96.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ "Jean Wilkowski Stars at Track". The Miami News. 1935-04-11. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-07-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Girls' Track Honor to Jean Wilkowski". The Miami Herald. 1935-04-11. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-07-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Jean Wilkowski". Alumni Park. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ "Ahead of Her Time: A Conversation with Ambassador Jean Wilkowski". International Division, University of Wisconsin Madison. 2009-04-10. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ a b "Jean Mary Wilkowski". The Foreign Service Journal. 93: 69. November 2016.
- ^ "Jean Wilkowski Home; Spends Six Years Abroad". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 1951-07-16. p. 14. Retrieved 2021-07-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Jean Wilkowski Moves Confidently in a Man's World". Department of State News Letter: 24–25. October 1967.
- ^ a b c "Her Diplomacy Spotlight: Ambassador Jean Wilkowski: Leadership, Vision, and Courage". National Museum of American Diplomacy. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ "Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Award". Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ "U.S. Sending First Woman Envoy to Africa". Department of State News Letter: 12. July 1972.
- ^ "Ambassador JEAN MARY WILKOWSKI". The Washington Post. July 31, 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "Jean Mary Wilkowski (1919–)". Officer of the Historian. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ Wilkowski, Jean (Summer 1979). "The US and UNCSTD". Technology in Society. 1 (2): 153–158. doi:10.1016/0160-791X(79)90017-4. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "Jean Wilkowski (2002) - Wall of Honor". Barry University Athletics. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ "DACOR Legacy Society". DACOR. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ Wilkowski, Jean M. (2008). Abroad for her country : tales of a pioneer woman ambassador in the U.S. Foreign Service. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 978-0-268-09657-1. OCLC 712995181.
- ^ Sibley, Katherine A. S. (June 2009). "Diplomacy While Distaff: Profiling Women's Lives in the Foreign Service". Diplomatic History. 33 (3): 525–529. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2009.00787.x. ISSN 0145-2096.