Alum looks back at Rice from post as US ambassador to Sierra Leone

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

Michael Owen ’73 didn’t study to be a diplomat in one of the world’s poorest countries when he went to Rice as an undergraduate. But he learned skills that proved helpful as he has settled in to his job as U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone.

	Ambassador Michael Owen ’73 met with President Barack Obama last January at the White House during an annual chiefs of mission conference.

Owen was sworn in as ambassador to the West African nation last August. A career member of the foreign service, Owen served previously as acting deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Prior to that assignment, Owen served as consul general at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India, and as deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.

The challenges he faces in his current post are formidable. “Two years ago Sierra Leone ranked dead last (179 out of 179) on the U.N.’s Human Development Index,” Owen said. “At that time, life expectancy was just over 40 years, and one out of eight women died in childbirth. There’s been some improvement since then, but there is still a very long way to go.”

Owen double-majored in civil engineering and economics at Rice with no intention of joining the diplomatic corps. But his undergraduate experience enlarged his view of the world, exposed him to a lot of new ideas and forced him to think more broadly, he said.

He highlighted his engineering education for teaching him “rigorous problem-solving skills, which — even though I’ve never practiced as a professional engineer — have been enormously helpful throughout my career. Whenever I’m faced with a problem, I’m comfortable with breaking the problem down into its constituent parts, analyzing each part, and coming up with a practical path forward. I’m a firm believer that an engineering education imparts a sound basis in logical thinking and is a great asset, no matter what your profession.”

Asked which professors had a strong influence on him, Owen cited Nat Krahl, then a professor of civil engineering and architecture, and Raymond Struyk, who was a visiting professor of urban economics. He also mentioned Terrence Doody, professor of English, whose lectures Owen found “absolutely spellbinding.” Doody, he said, is responsible for his “love of world literature today and for understanding how literature can provide a unique insight into foreign cultures.”

Life as a diplomat has certainly exposed Owen to many foreign cultures. In addition to Sierra Leone, India and Tanzania, he has had posts in Ireland, Mauritania, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ghana. “Every post has been interesting and challenging in its own special way, and I think that provides an important lesson: No matter where you go, if you look around, you will find something fascinating,” he said.

Learning of Owen’s reaching the level of ambassador, Edward Djerejian, founding director of Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and himself a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel, said, “I am delighted to see a Rice graduate achieve the rank of ambassador in his foreign service career. I hope this will inspire more Rice students to consider public service as a career and to make a difference in the world of public policy.”

The Owen family is continuing the Rice tradition: Owen’s daughter, Sigrid, was a member of the class that graduated May 14. He noted the many changes on campus since his time as an undergraduate, such as the Jones Graduate School of Business, the Baker Institute, the Shepherd School of Music and the new recreation facility. “Lots of building, but Rice has done a great job of maintaining an architectural unity, and it’s a real pleasure to return to campus,” he said.