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Jendayi E. Frazer Ph.D.
Distinguished Public Service Professor
Distinguished Service Professor
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Biography
Jendayi E. Frazer, Ph.D., the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the George W. Bush administration, is a distinguished public service professor with a joint appointment in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences' Department of Social and Decision Sciences and the H. John Heinz III College's School of Public Policy and Management. She is also associated with the university's Washington D.C.-based Center for International Politics and Innovation and the D.C. Policy Center of the Heinz College.
During her tenure with the State Department, Frazer was instrumental in many diplomatic initiatives, including efforts surrounding the national reconciliation of Somalia, the resolution of the political dispute following Kenya's 2007 presidential election, and the return to democracy in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has been a vocal critic of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. In recognition of Frazer's contributions in advancing the United States' foreign policy in Africa, she was awarded the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January 2009. It is an award that is only bestowed upon those officials whose exceptional leadership and significant accomplishment in foreign affairs contributed to the advancement of U.S. national interests.
Frazer also served as U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Before becoming an ambassador, she was a special assistant to the president and senior director of African Affairs at the National Security Council, where she played an instrumental role in designing signature presidential initiatives, including the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria (PEPFAR), the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the Africa Education Initiative.
Before joining the Bush administration, Frazer taught public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government from 1995 to 2001. Her additional experience in academia includes an assistant professorship at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and positions as a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University and the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She also is a past editor of the journal Africa Today.
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