Professional Experience
M. Karen Walker has advanced to candidacy for a Doctorate of Philosophy at the University of Maryland’s Department of Communication, specializing Rhetoric and Social Change. Ms. Walker's professional objective is to draw on rhetorical-critical theories and methods to support foreign affairs policy development and advocacy, and to manage effectively trends in American diplomacy including reliance on public-private partnerships, the role of non-governmental actors, diaspora communities and ideologically-based social movements. Ms. Walker's dissertation project elaborates the rhetorical dimension of Nye's soft power thesis, relying on dramatistic theories and methods applied to case studies in participatory diplomacy. Ms. Walker is currently serving as a Franklin Fellow in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In the Office of Near East and South Central Asia, Ms. Walker is charged with democracy and governance programming and policy planning in Iraq. Ms. Walker began her appointment as a Franklin Fellow with the Global Partnership Initiative, where she helped frame diaspora community outreach and Muslim engagement strategies, and contributed to the evidence base for innovative and mission-relevant approaches to building public-private partnerships.
Ms. Walker’s academic perspective is grounded in program planning, policy development and practice achieved through 15-plus years' government service, primarily in the foreign affairs arena. While serving as a public information officer with the U.S. Information Agency (now a part of the U.S. Department of State) in the early 1990s, Ms. Walker promoted U.S. Government assistance to emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe; contributd to policy development on the United States' role in a post-Cold War world; and engaged media and stakeholders in the Department's environmental diplomacy initiatives leading up to the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development.
As a scientist-engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the mid-1990s, Ms. Walker provided policy planning and technical support to a broad range of government officials to advance energy efficiency and energy security objectives. Near the end of her tenure, Ms. Walker contributed to the establishment of the Laboratory’s Environmental Security Center, which later expanded into the Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security.
Returning to the U.S. Department of State in November 1997, Ms. Walker continued her work in environmental security as an official of the Bureau of Oceans and Environmental and Scientific Affairs. As a program officer in the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, Ms. Walker managed the Business Facilitation Incentive Fund, directing resources to Embassies and Consulates to support free enterprise in developing markets; helped American companies compete for foreign government contracts and advocated their interests overseas; and supported the development of e-readiness initiatives. In her last position, with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Ms. Walker managed a grants program under the auspices of the Middle East Partnership Initiative to advance education reform and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa.
From May 2003 – May 2005, Ms. Walker served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, where she brought the social and behavioral sciences to bear in meeting homeland security requirements, including a research thrust to understand and exploit terrorist motivation and intent. Ms. Walker also served as Executive Secretary of the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, as well as the NSTC’s Biometrics Research and Development Interagency Working Group.
From May 2005 - June 2006, Ms. Walker assumed the pro bono position of Director of Strategic Alliances at the International Child Art Foundation, and currently serves on ICAF's Advisory Board.
Ms. Walker's professional affiliations include several within the field of Communication, including the International Communication Association, National Communication Association, and Rhetoric Society of America. In support of the sciences generally, Ms. Walker is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
From May 2005 - June 2006, Ms. Walker assumed the pro bono position of Director of Strategic Alliances at the International Child Art Foundation, and currently serves on ICAF's Advisory Board.
Ms. Walker's professional affiliations include several within the field of Communication, including the International Communication Association, National Communication Association, and Rhetoric Society of America. In support of the sciences generally, Ms. Walker is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Ms. Walker is a native of Evansville, Indiana. She earned her B.A. in May 1985, in political science and communications from DePauw University, and her M.A. in speech communication in December 1988 from the University of Maryland College Park.
Questions or Comments? Email me at m.karen@rhetoricalens.info
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