 Thomas Boyatt |
Boyatt received his B.A. in 1955 from Princeton University, and an M.A. in 1956 from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 1956-59, he served in the United States Air Force and attained the rank of first lieutenant.
Boyatt entered the Foreign Service in 1959. He served as Vice Consul in Antofagasta, Chile (1960-62); assistant to the Under Secretary of the Treasury (1962); second secretary at the American Embassy in Lüxembourg (1964-66); and first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus (1967-70). He returned to Washington in 1970 as special assistant to Joseph Sisco, Assistant Secretary of the State for the Near East. He was director of Cyprus (1971-74), and named a member of the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy the following year. In 1975, he became minister-counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Boyatt was chosen to be Ambassador to Upper Volta in 1978, and in 1980 was nominated and confirmed as United States Ambassador to Columbia. In 1983, Boyatt was promoted to the personal rank of Career Minister of the Foreign Service.
Boyatt received the State Department's Meritorious Honor Award in 1969 "for heroism in helping injured passengers to safety and taking the lead in negotiating passenger release with Syria" during the 1969 hijacking of a TWA plane by Palestinian guerrillas. He received the William R. Rivkin Award "for intellectual courage, creativity, disciplined dissent, and taking bureaucratic and physical risks in the cause of peace on Cyprus form 1967 to 1970." In 1979, Boyatt was given the Christian A. Herter Award "for extraordinary contributions to the practice of diplomacy." Several foreign governments have also decorated him. In 1984, Frank Carlucci brought Boyatt to Sears World Trade as vice president for Latin America. Since 1987 he has been in the trading, consulting, and security businesses. Currently he is president of Boyatt Wood Enterprises and a trustee of Princeton University. He is presently a member of the Advisory Board of the Patterson School of the University of Kentucky and has been named to the Board of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Boyatt also serves on several corporate and non-profit boards. Boyatt speaks Spanish, French, and Greek.
In addition to his Wednesday evening lecture, Boyatt will talk on "Choosing a Career in Foreign Service" on Monday, October 21 at 4:15 p.m. in Rogge Lounge of Baxter Hall and at the International Studies Lunch on Tuesday, October 22 at 12 noon in the International Hall of Detchon Center. The title of his noon time talk will be "Power and Perception in the Gulf War and the Balkans."
Boyatt's lecture are free and open to public. There will be a reception following his Wednesday lecture.