2012 Annual Lecture on Asian Democracy
ANNUAL LECTURE ON ASIAN DEMOCRACY
“Reform in the ‘Golden Land’: U.S. Policy and Perspectives on Change in Burma”
Thursday, January 26th, 2012, 7pm
PNC Club at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium
2800 S. Floyd St., Gate 2A. Free and ample parking available.
Presentation by
Ambassador Derek J. Mitchell
Special Representative and Policy
Coordinator for Burma
Cocktail reception to follow.
7:00pm — Presentation by Ambassador Mitchell
8:00pm — Cocktail reception
Free and open to the public.
Bio for Ambassador Mitchell, Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma
Derek J. Mitchell is the Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, with the rank of ambassador. Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Mitchell served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, from April 2009 until August 2011. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing the Defense Department’s security policy in Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia. He has also served as senior fellow and director of the Asia Division of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as a special assistant for Asian and Pacific affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1997 to 2001. Ambassador Mitchell was the principal author of the Department of Defense (DoD) 1998 East Asia Strategy Report, and received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service in January 2001.
Ambassador Mitchell received a master of arts in law and diplomacy degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1991 and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 1986. He studied Chinese language at Nanjing University in China and speaks Mandarin Chinese proficiently. Amb. Mitchell has authored numerous books, articles, and opinion pieces on Asian security affairs, and is coauthor of China: The Balance Sheet—What the World Needs to Know Now about the Emerging Superpower (Public Affairs, 2006), and China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities (Peterson Institute for International Economics Press, 2008).