News - Nov 20, 2008
Morehead-Cain Hosts First Alumni-in-Residence Program
An all-star team of Morehead Alumni visited Chapel Hill on November 13 and 14, 2008, for the inaugural Alumni-in-Residence program. The theme of the program was "International Affairs" and the seven Alumni who participated are all experts in the field. The Alumni-in-Residence program allowed Alumni to share their expertise with Scholars and offered Scholars an opportunity to spend time one-on-one with world-class mentors.The Alumni who participated are listed below.
November 2008 Alumni-in-Residence
Corrie Conrad '02 worked as a program officer with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Rwanda to support scale-up of pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Now Corrie works with Google.org as an associate with the Predict and Prevent Initiative, spearheading the team's digital detection efforts, which use online signals for earlier detection of disease outbreaks. Prior to joining Google.org in 2007, Corrie worked with a variety of non-profits supporting international education in Zimbabwe, India, and Rwanda, and served as director of Students for Students International. She graduated from UNC with a double major in international studies and French, then received a Master's of Public Affairs with a focus on International Development from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
After graduating from UNC, Erika Hamilton '00 spent a year working with Citibank in New York, conducting financial analysis and structuring loan transactions in the Latin American power and energy sectors, before joining the CIA in 2001.
As an analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence, Erika has published 15 classified intelligence assessments on terrorism finance and money laundering for senior policymakers in the White House, Department of Treasury, and throughout the intelligence community. She also briefed multiple foreign government liaison services and served rotations to the U.S. Embassies in Spain (2004) and Jordan (2005) following terrorist attacks. Erika took time out to pursue her MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, which she received in May 2008.
A career officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, John Hamilton '66 served as Ambassador to Peru from 1999 to 2002 and to Guatemala from 2002 to 2005. John's 35 years in Foreign Service took him to Spain, Mexico, Greece, Peru (twice), Costa Rica, and Guatemala. He and his wife, Donna Jean, also a career Foreign Service officer, were assigned together throughout their careers. John was also assigned to the Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau of the Department of State in Washington, DC at junior, mid-grade, and senior levels of his career. Before being named Ambassador to Peru, he was the second-ranking official in Western Hemisphere Affairs and had responsibility, among other issues, for our policy toward Cuba. He also worked for extended periods in Washington on Central American Affairs and was given an award for his support of the peace negotiations that ended the 36-year armed conflict in Guatemala in 1996. The Department presented him its Distinguished Honor Award in 2005. John graduated with Honors in U.S. History from Carolina and, in 1982, obtained a master's degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. Before entering the Foreign Service, he was an officer on active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserve for two years in the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Tony Harrington '63 is currently President and CEO of Stonebridge International LLC, a bi-partisan Washington, DC, international strategic advisory firm that assists multinational organizations on strategic challenges and opportunities.
Tony was nominated by President Clinton (and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a record 12 days!) to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. Previously, Tony was a senior corporate partner at Hogan & Hartson, a Washington-based international law firm; Chairman of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board; Vice Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; and a member of the congressionally created Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
In addition, Tony co-founded several communications/ technology firms, including Telecom*USA, the fourth largest U.S. long-distance telephone company prior to its merger with MCI.
After graduating from UNC, Tony received a law degree from Duke Law School.
After graduating from UNC, Bethany Hedt '99 traveled to Namibia to serve as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. There she taught math and science to junior secondary school students. She then worked as a Crisis Corps Volunteer, coordinating regional HIV prevention activities for the Ministry of Education.
In 2003, Bethany entered a PhD program in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, and took a leave of absence in her fourth year to work at the Centers for Disease Control as a strategic information technical advisor to the Ministry of Health in Malawi. In 2007 she returned to Harvard to complete her graduate thesis-"Novel Methods for Efficient Surveillance and Monitoring." Since graduating this year, Bethany has worked as a research fellow, integrating theoretical statistical work with real-world applications-including collaborations with the World Bank and Muhimbili University in Tanzania.
Bill Lucas '73 is a career foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, and currently serves as director for European Union and regional economic affairs. Previously, Bill was detailed to the National Security Council as director for Africa (2006-2007); served as director of U.S. policy on human rights, humanitarian, and social issues arising in the United Nations system (2004-2005); and completed a two-year assignment as political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines (2002-2004). Bill has also served as deputy director of policy toward southern Africa and political officer in the U.S. Embassy, Pretoria. He was also on the South Africa Desk in Washington. Bill has held numerous other assignments with the State Department, including: first secretary, U.S. Mission to the European Union, Brussels; special assistant (for Europe) to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs; Russia desk officer; Denmark/Norway desk officer; conventional arms control officer, European Regional Political/Military Affairs; and analyst, Office of West European Analysis.
Bill graduated from UNC with a BA in English, received a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS); and a master's degree in political science from Stanford University. Bill was born in Greensboro and is married to Jill Williams Lucas, also a 1973 graduate of UNC-CH. They have three children.
A foreign service officer since 1998, Benjamin Ousley Naseman '96 is currently studying Polish at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. In 2009, Benjamin will assume the job of branch public affairs officer with the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. In his most recent assignment, he was an instructor with the Foreign Service Institute's Consular Training Division at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to that, Benjamin served as consular section chief with the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Mexico, where he supervised the American citizen services unit and non-immigrant visa unit. He served in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, in the non-immigrant visa unit and economic section in 2001–2002. His first Foreign Service assignment was in Hermosillo, Mexico from 1999–2000.
Ben studied journalism and international studies at UNC and completed the creative writing honors sequence. His summer experiences with the Morehead included a photodocumentary project in Cuba, internships with The Conservation Fund and Tucson Police Department, and the NOLS Wind River Course. Ben grew up in Lawndale, North Carolina. His wife, Angel, is also a UNC graduate and they have four children.