Philip T. Reeker, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, will discuss the volatile Balkans region during a Jan. 29 free public lecture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The Balkans: From War and ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ to Democratization and Integration into Europe” will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the FedEx Global Education Center.
Reeker, former U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, will address the complex history and politics of this volatile region from the Bosnian war in the early 1990s to the promising developments of the present.
His visit to UNC is in conjunction with the Ambassadors Forum organized by the Richard M. Krasno Distinguished Professorship, the Center for European Studies and the department of history. The forum brings to campus prominent diplomats, politicians and business leaders to deliver public lectures and conduct seminars and workshops for graduate students. Students have the opportunity to engage first-hand with international leaders and obtain insights into the practical application of their study of history, political science, European studies and international relations.
A career foreign service officer, Reeker took his current position in August 2011. He supervises the Office of South-Central European Affairs and is responsible for U.S. relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Before that, Reeker served as U.S. ambassador to Macedonia (2008-2011), counselor to the ambassador for public affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Iraq (2007-2008), deputy chief of mission in Budapest (2004-2007) and deputy spokesman and deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Public Affairs (2000 to 2003).
In 2003, he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy and traveled domestically and internationally as the “Spokesman at Large” for the State Department.
