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 combined academic and professional experience allows her to apply rhetorical-critical theories and methods to support foreign affairs policy development and advocacy; to manage trends influencing American diplomacy, defense, and international development; and to assess the health of the public sphere. Ms. Walker's dissertation project elaborates the rhetorical dimension of Nye's soft power thesis, relying on dramatistic theories and methods applied to discourses associated with the U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement. Ms. Walker is a strategic communications consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, serving intelligence community and national security clients, with a current focus on science and technology and RDT&E programs. She is also active in the firm's Global Engagement Community of Practice, and Risk and Crisis Communication Community of Practice. In January 2011, Ms. Walker completed a two-year appointment as a State Department Franklin Fellow, serving as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In the Office of Near East Affairs, Ms. Walker was charged with democracy and governance programming and policy planning in Iraq and Yemen. 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 two decades' 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; contributed 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 International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. As a program officer in the Bureau of Economic 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 contributed to the successful launch of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, advancing 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 the launch of a multi-laboratory 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.
Ms. Walker's academic and professional affiliations include the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, the International Studies Association, and the American Evaluation Association. 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.
From May 2005 - June 2006, Ms. Walker assumed the pro bono position of Director of Strategic Alliances at the International Child Art Foundation.
Ms. Walker's academic and professional affiliations include the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, the International Studies Association, and the American Evaluation Association. 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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