UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State School of International Affairs (SIA) will host Karin Olofsdotter, Sweden's ambassador to the United States, for a public talk from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, in the Lewis Katz Building at University Park. Olofsdotter took office in September 2018.
The event, “Perspectives on International Affairs and Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter,” is free and open to the public. Visit the SIA website to learn more.
Olofsdotter’s career in the Swedish Foreign Service started in 1994 with her first post in the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow. In the years following, she worked in security policy and defense issues as well as in numerous leadership posts within Sweden's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including serving as chief of staff for several of its ministers. She has served as part of the Swedish delegation to NATO as well as Sweden's European Union representation in Brussels, working with European security policy and defense issues.
In 2008, she was appointed deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C. In 2011, she entered her first ambassadorial position as ambassador of Sweden to Hungary. Prior to assuming the role as ambassador to the United States, Olofsdotter served as director-general for trade at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. She also has held the position of deputy director-general and head of the Department for Promotion of Sweden, Trade and CSR.
Olofsdotter holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology, economics and Russian. She studied at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and speaks Russian, French and English.
For more information about the event, contact Scott Sigmund Gartner, director of the School of International Affairs, at ssg13@psu.edu or 814-867-2789.
Editor's note: This event was originally scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8, and was rescheduled due to scheduling difficulties.