(MSFS’89) is named Under Secretary General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations. The former international relations professor at Hitotsubashi University and member of Japan’s Foreign Exchange Council to the Foreign Minister has also directed peacekeeping operations for UN Asia/Middle East division, served as Assistant Secretary General for Crisis Response at UN Development Program, and advised the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.
Nakamitsu credits her female professors at SFS, like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with providing her with an insight into the type of career path she might pursue as an international affairs practitioner early on in her career, as well as with giving her the skills she needed to succeed. “I have always been an optimistic and somewhat idealistic person,” Nakamitsu said during her alumni speaker address at the 2017 MSFS Tropaia graduation ceremony. “But my two years at Georgetown equipped me with the skills and capacities to think strategically, pragmatically and realistically to truly strive to reach my own ideals and goals.”
