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Paula J. Dobriansky

Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Contact:
Telephone: 617-495-5663
Email: paula_dobriansky@hks.harvard.edu

Experience

Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky served as under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs from May 2001 to January 2009.  She was responsible for a broad range of foreign policy issues, including democracy, human rights, labor, refugee and humanitarian relief matters, and environmental/science issues.  She also had been designated as the special coordinator for Tibetan Issues and in February 2007, she was appointed the President's special envoy on Northern Ireland, with the rank of ambassador. 

Presently, she is a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and is a senior international affairs and trade advisor at the law firm of Baker Hostetler. 

Prior to her Presidential appointments, Dr. Dobriansky served as senior vice president and director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations.  She was responsible for managing the Council's office and operations in D.C. and for leading Council meetings, study groups, and seminars that served over 1,000 area members.  She was also the Council's first George F. Kennan senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies.

Previously, Dr. Dobriansky served as senior international affairs and trade advisor at the law firm of Hunton & Williams, and also as co-chair of the International TV Council at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Her government appointments include associate director for policy and programs at the United States Information Agency, deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, deputy head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the 1985 U.N. Decade for Women Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, and director of European and Soviet affairs at the National Security Council, the White House.  From 1997-2001, she served on the Presidentially-appointed U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. 

Dr. Dobriansky received a B.S.F.S. summa cum laude in International Politics from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University.  She is a Fulbright-Hays scholar, Ford and Rotary Foundation fellow, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of various honors, including the Secretary of State’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, and high-level international recognition such as Poland's Highest Medal of Merit, Grand Cross of Commander of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, National Order "Star of Romania,” Hungary’s Commander’s Cross Order of Merit and Ukraine’s Order of Merit.  She has also received Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Westminster College, and Roger Williams University, and Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Flagler College. 

Dr. Dobriansky serves on various boards, including Freedom House, the International Center for Democratic Transitions, and the Australian-American Dialogue.  Previous boards have included the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, National Endowment for Democracy (Vice Chair), American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the American Bar Association Central/East European Law Initiative.  She has lectured and published articles, book chapters, and op-ed pieces on foreign affairs-related topics.  For three years, she hosted Freedom's Challenge and co-hosted Worldwise, the international affairs programs on National Empowerment Television.  She has been interviewed widely on television and radio and has testified frequently before the Senate Foreign Relations and House International Relations Committees.