White House Appoints Skinner to Federal Government Posts

President George W. Bush and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have appointed Carnegie Mellon's Kiron K. Skinner, one of the nation's most respected foreign policy experts, to the U.S. National Security Education Board and to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Executive Panel, respectively.

The United States government created the National Security Education Board in 1991 to promote Americans' understanding of international affairs and foreign cultures, strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness and enhance international cooperation and security. The seven-member board includes representatives from the CIA and the departments of Education, State and Defense. The board offers scholarships to undergraduate students to study abroad and fellowships to graduate students to develop expertise in less-commonly studied languages and cultures.

"My appointment to the National Security Education Board is a recognition by the White House that Carnegie Mellon is emerging as an intellectual powerhouse for interdisciplinary teaching and research in the social sciences and humanities," said Skinner, an assistant professor of history and political science. "The fellowships provided by the National Security Education Board are for the study of international politics, culture and foreign languages. Carnegie Mellon excels in the study of each and their intersection."

The CNO Executive Panel is an advisory board to the Chief of Naval Operations. Skinner said it's an honor to be appointed to a board that has an opportunity to suggest innovations in military policy.

A leading scholar of the Cold War, Skinner is the co-editor, along with Annelise and Martin Anderson, of the New York Times best sellers "Reagan: A Life in Letters" and "Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America."

Skinner is a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board and the Council of Foreign Relations. She sits on the boards of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, D.C. She is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Skinner is the director of the International Relations Program at Carnegie Mellon, which is part of the university's College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The college is the second-largest academic unit at Carnegie Mellon and emphasizes interdisciplinary study in a technologically rich environment, with an open and forward-thinking stance toward the arts and sciences.

Jonathan Potts