RENOWNED INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EXPERT TO ADDRESS PITT'S 1999 GSPIA GRADUATES

PITTSBURGH, April 23 -- Edward Brynn, international affairs advisor at the National War College in Washington, DC, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) graduation and honors ceremony beginning at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 1 at the 20th Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Boulevard, Oakland.

An Air Force officer who taught history at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, Brynn entered the foreign service in 1972. His overseas assignments include Sri Lanka, Mali, Mauritania, the Gambia, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, where he served as ambassador. Brynn also was Diplomat in Residence at the Air Force Academy (1975-78) and a staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and foreign policy advisor for Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont (1981-82.) He retired from the Air Force Reserves as a lieutenant colonel in 1992.

As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 1993 to 1995, Brynn was the management officer for the Bureau of African Affairs, which comprises 45 embassies and three consulates along with a Washington office. As ambassador to Ghana, Brynn supervised one of the largest U.S. diplomatic establishments in sub-Saharan Africa, including a $45 million annual AID program, the world's oldest Peace Corps presence, and a vigorous public diplomacy and outreach program.

Brynn has written two scholarly books and more than a dozen articles on Irish and British Empire history and politics. He has received Senior Performance, Superior and Meritorious Honor awards from the Department of State, and was awarded the Walter J. Stoessel Prize for Distinguished Service in Diplomacy in 1994.

A graduate of Georgetown University, Brynn received advanced degrees from both Stanford University and Trinity College in Dublin.

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