CAMBRIDGE, MA---Barbara Bodine, a former career diplomat who served in 2003 as coordinator for post-conflict reconstruction for Baghdad and the central governorates of Iraq, and from 1997-2001 as US Ambassador to Yemen, joins MIT's Center for International Studies (CIS) as a Visiting Fellow on May 1, 2006.

Ambassador Bodine, who has already participated in CIS activities, including the Center's Persian Gulf Initiative-a series of workshops that examines specific problems in the Gulf and features experts from the region-will expand her involvement during the coming year, with participation in public forums, conferences and research projects.

"We are honored to welcome Ambassador Bodine to CIS. Because her accomplishments and expertise are both broad and deep, we're certain she will contribute a great deal to the work of the Center, as well as to the larger MIT community," said John Tirman, CIS Executive Director.

Ambassador Bodine, formerly a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, spent most of her 30-year diplomatic career in the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. She was Ambassador to Yemen when the USS Cole was attacked in 2000, Deputy Principal Officer in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq War, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion and occupation in 1990. In addition, she received a number of assignments in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and was Associate Coordinator for Counterterrorism at State, Dean of the School of Professional Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, and Director of East African Affairs.

Ambassador Bodine is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science and in Asian Studies, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She received the Secretary of State's Award for Valor for her work in occupied Kuwait.

Persian Gulf Initiative: http://web.mit.edu.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/cis/act_pgi.html