Jeffrey Hawkins

Jeffrey J. Hawkins (born 1966) is a former American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to the Central African Republic from 2015 to 2017.

Jeffrey J. Hawkins
United States Ambassador to the Central African Republic
In office October 16, 2015 – August 25, 2017
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump
Preceded by	Laurence D. Wohlers
Succeeded by	Lucy Tamlyn
Personal details
Born	1966 (age 54–55) Lexington, Virginia
Spouse(s)	Annie Chansavang
Children	Maxime and Alexandre Hawkins
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles

He was appointed the director of the American Library in Paris in September 2017.[1]

Consular career

Hawkins joined the State Department in 1994 and was first posted to Abidjan, Ivory Coast as a political officer. He was moved to be deputy consular section chief in Chennai, India in 1996, and to Islamabad, Pakistan as a political officer in 1999.[2]

In 2002, Hawkins was recalled to work as desk officer for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in Washington and as acting deputy director for the Office of Central Asian Affairs. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he joined the Naval Reserve and was temporarily released from his Foreign Service duties in 2003 to join a tour in Afghanistan, where he was also a political and economic counselor in the Kabul embassy. In this post, Hawkins helped write the new Afghan constitution.[2]

From 2004 to 2006, Hawkins was posted to Brunei as deputy chief of mission in Bandar Seri Begawan, then he was sent to the embassy in Lille, France as the consul. Hawkins was again made deputy chief of mission in 2008, but this time in Luanda, Angola. He was recalled in 2010 to be director of the Office of Near East and South and Central Asia in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor where he organised human rights programmes in the countries under his jurisdiction.[2] He also left the Naval Reserve at this time.[3]

In 2012, Hawkins was sent to be consul general in Lagos, Nigeria where he remained until his nomination for the ambassadorship to the Central African Republic by President Obama on April 16, 2015.[3] He was confirmed for the post on October 8, 2015.[4]

Hawkins retired from the Foreign Service in 2017, leaving his post as ambassador in September and being succeeded by David P. Brownstein as charge d'affairs at the consulate.

Post-consular career

After his retirement from the Foreign Service in September 2017, Hawkins took up the post of director at the American Library in Paris, succeeding Charles Trueheart.[1] He became a professor at Sciences Po Lille in 2018.[5]

Personal life

Hawkins has two children, Maxime and Alexandre, and can speak Portuguese and French fluently.[2][4]

References

1. Lemasson, Pauline. "Introducing Jeffrey Hawkins, the Library's new director". American Library in Paris. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
2. Straehley, Steve. "U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic: Who Is Jeffrey J. Hawkins?". AllGov. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
3. "Hawkins, Jeffrey J., Jr. - Central African Republic - April 2015". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
4. "Jeffrey J. Hawkins". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
5. "Jeffrey J. Hawkins" (PDF). Sciences Po Lille. Retrieved 15 November 2018.