Today in our History – August 6, 2013 - Thomas-Greenfield was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Africa Affairs.

GM – LIF – Today’s American Champion?is an American diplomat who is the?United States Ambassador to the United Nations?under President?Joe Biden. A member of the?Democratic Party, she served as the United States?Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs?from 2013 to 2017. She then served in the private sector as a senior vice president at?Albright Stonebridge Group?in Washington, D.C.

President Biden nominated her to be the?United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and she was confirmed by the?United States Senate?on February 23, 2021. She took office after?presenting her credentials?on February 25, 2021.

Today in our History – August 6, 2013 - Thomas-Greenfield was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Africa Affairs.

In 1974 Thomas-Greenfield graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in?Political?Science. She then completed a Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of?Wisconsin?the following year (1975) and taught political science at Bucknell University in?Pennsylvania.

Although she began a doctoral program, after a year-long political science fellowship in?Liberia, Thomas-Greenfield completed the Foreign Service exam rather than her Ph.D. dissertation. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service and received her first overseas?assignment?in 1982 as a consular officer in the U.S. Embassy in?Kingston,?Jamaica.

Thomas-Greenfield later held?diplomatic?positions at U.S. embassies in?Lagos,?Nigeria,?Banjul,?Gambia, and?Nairobi,?Kenya. She also served in the American embassies in Islamabad,?Pakistan?and Bern,?Switzerland.

In April 1994, Thomas-Greenfield was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in?Kigali,?Rwanda.?Two days after her arrival in that nation, the?Rwandan genocide?began. Thomas-Greenfield was mistaken for a?Tutsi?and held at gunpoint until she could prove her American nationality.

In between overseas assignments Thomas-Greenfield worked at the U.S. State Department in?Washington, D.C.?From 1991 to 1993 she was a staff assistant in the Office of the Director General of the Foreign Service.?From 2004 to 2006 she worked in the Department’s Bureau of Human Resources, as a deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

In 2008, President George W. Bush nominated Thomas-Greenfield as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia. She represented U.S. interest there and encouraging the democratization of the nation after decades of civil wars.?She served in?Monrovia, Liberia until 2012.

After returning from Liberia Thomas-Greenfield served from 2012 to 2013 as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources.?Linda Thomas-Greenfield was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Africa Affairs on August 6, 2013.

In 2000, Linda Thomas-Greenfield received the Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs. She has also received Superior, Meritorious, and Performance Awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award in 2007 and 2008.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield was a 2010 inductee into the Louisiana State University Alumni Association Hall of Distinction and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa from Cuttington University in 2011. After traveling the world, Thomas-Greenfield returned to Baker, Louisiana in May 2014, to give the commencement address at the formerly all-white high school she had not been allowed to attend.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield is married and has two children. Resreach more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!?