Fall Fellow Melinda Crowley '88

Melinda began the day speaking to the students and faculty at assembly, where she shared some of the important work she has accomplished in countries like Iraq and Guinea, and how her Hopkins education prepared her for taking on these challenges. In her career, she has focused on helping underserved groups, primarily women, establish programs that empower them within their communities, as well as aiding developing countries in building democracies and functional government organizations. She also shared her first hand experience of the danger of working in volatile countries and how being targeted by violent action only strengthened her resolve to help promote change in those countries. Melinda spoke eloquently about her life's work so far, and you can watch her assembly address in the attached videos.

Following assembly, Melinda spent the morning attending classes, where students asked questions about Melinda's work, her opinions of foreign policy, and how she gauges the success of the programs she has helped develop. Her visit concluded with a luncheon in the Alumni/ae House with her family, friends and former teachers.

Melinda was joined for assembly and the luncheon by her dedicated family, an entourage of lovely ladies including her mom, grandma, aunt, and family friends.

The following is some more background information on Melinda and her career, as printed in the Fall 2013 issue of Views from the Hill.

Since August 2012, Melinda has served as Chief of the Political and Economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, Guinea where she promotes accountability and empowers vulnerable and excluded groups to become full partners in their governments and economies. In 2010, Melinda resided in Karbala, Iraq for one year. She served as a Senior Diplomat Advisor on a Provincial Reconstruction Team, a civil-military interagency group that lived and worked in a dangerous combat environment. Melinda was responsible for gender equality, good governance policy, and programs to build Iraq’s capacity, accountability, and self-reliance.

U.S. Diplomat Francisco Palmieri ’79, who worked closely with Melinda in Iraq and nominated her for this honor, said: “Ms. Crowley’s work in Iraq as a diplomat, development worker, and committed advocate for women’s rights has been an inspiration and model for promoting American diplomacy and internationally recognized universal human rights…She has done her work in the face of even greater levels of personal peril than other diplomats in Iraq confront, and in some cases in even more peril than most of the other members in the U.S. mission in Iraq."

In 2011–2012, Melinda served as the principal U.S. diplomatic representative and political reporting officer at the American Consulate General in Erbil, Iraq for issues related to human rights, women's rights, democracy and civil society, religious and ethnic minority affairs, and refugees fleeing from Syria as well as other internally displaced persons.

Melinda has her Doctorate in Cultural and Applied Anthropology from American University. As a social scientist and diplomat, she enjoys and is inspired by work that places knowledge into a larger public discourse and contributes to more effective foreign policy and programmatic action. During her leisure time, Melinda enjoys ballet, African and jazz dance, adventure travel, flower gardening, and baking.