Ambassador Julianne Smith, "NATO today: Confronting the crisis in Ukraine and adapting to meet global challenges"

The Ford School is pleased to present Ambassador Julianne Smith for the 5th annual Arthur Vandenberg Lecture.

Ambassador Smith has served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO since November 2021. Prior to her current position, she served as a Senior Advisor to Secretary Antony Blinken at the Department of State, and previously served as the Director of the Asia and Geopolitics Programs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Ambassador Smith will give brief remarks, followed by a conversation with Weiser Diplomacy Center director John Ciorciari.

How to attend

In person attendance at this event is limited to current University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff. A valid MCard will be required for entry. Livestream viewing is free and open to the public from this page. 

From the speaker's bio

Ambassador Julianne Smith assumed her position as the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO in November 2021. Prior to her current position, she served as a senior advisor to Secretary Blinken at the Department of State. Previously, she served as the director of the Asia and Geopolitics Programs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2014-2018, she served as the director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

From 2012-2013, she served as the Acting National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States. Before her post at the White House, she served for three years as the principal director for European and NATO Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. In January 2012, she was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.

Prior to her government service, Ambassador Smith held a variety of positions at research institutions including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the German Marshall Fund, the American Academy in Berlin, and the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin. She has written extensively on transatlantic relations and European security.

Ambassador Smith is a recipient of the Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship at the Bosch Academy in Berlin and the Fredin Memorial Scholarship for study at the Sorbonne in Paris. A native of Michigan, she received her BA from Xavier University and her M.A from American University. She spent a year learning German at the University of Munich. In 2017, she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

About the Vandenberg Lecture

The Meijer Family established the Vandenberg Fund in 2017 to honor U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg, who served the State of Michigan in the U.S. Senate from 1928-1951. Senator Vandenberg forged bipartisan support for our country's most significant and enduring foreign policies of the twentieth century, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO and the creation of the United Nations. The Vandenberg Lecture Fund has since featured some of the world's leaders in foreign policy including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ambassador Samantha Power, among others. 

Thank you to our media partners with Detroit Public Television (DPTV), PBS Books, and One Detroit. 

• Weiser Diplomacy Center
• Julianne Smith
• Vandenberg Lecture
• Ambassador Smith
• NATO
• international relations
• foreign policy