John D. Stempel -- Full Biographic Information

John D. Stempel, Senior Professor, served as the fourth Director of the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce from 1993-2003. He came to the Patterson School in August, 1988 as Professor of International Studies and Associate Director.

Stempel is a member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. Department of Commerce District Export Council for Kentucky, and is listed in Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America.

Prior to coming to Kentucky, Dr. Stempel completed a distinguished 24-year career in the United States Foreign Service as U.S. Consul General to South India at Madras. Since then, he also participated in the International Democratic Union mission to observe the Chilean Presidential Plebiscite in October, 1988; toured India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh for the U.S. Information Agency, and has served as a government consultant on several occasions.

Simultaneously pursuing parallel careers in diplomacy and academic life, Dr. Stempel taught part-time at The George Washington University, American University in Washington, both in Washington D.C., and at the RCD College in Tehran, Iran. Following his service in Iran, he undertook a two-year full-time teaching stint as the State Department's Diplomat-in-Residence at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1979 to 1981. He recently completed a one semester sabbatical for spring 2005 at Virgina Military Institute.

A career U.S. Foreign Service Officer from 1964 to 1988, he spent four tumultuous years in Iran (1975-79) as deputy chief of the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. This experience provided the background for his book, Inside the Iranian Revolution. His other assignments included two years as director of the State Department's crisis center (1981-83); service as the director for Near East and South Asian Affairs in the International Security Affairs Bureau under the Secretary of Defense (1983-84); and 15 to 24- month postings in the African countries of Guinea, Burundi, and Zambia from 1966-74.

In addition to his previous teaching experience, in 1972 he was a Research Associate at Ohio State University's Mershon Center. He is a founding director of the International Studies Association's Diplomatic Studies Section of the International Studies Association.

He has written and spoken extensively on foreign policy issues ranging from Islamic fundamentalism to state and local involvement in foreign affairs. He has been an expert consultant regarding the Middle East on regional and national television, and has more recently written on issues involving religion and diplomacy.

Graduating cum laude from Princeton University in 1960, Dr. Stempel served in Vietnam as a U.S. Navy officer from 1960-62 before studying political science at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his M.A. in 1963 and his Ph.D. in 1965. He was twice editorial chair of the Foreign Service Journal, and belongs to several professional societies.

Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1938, he was raised on the campus at Indiana University where his father headed I.U.'s Journalism School for three decades. He is married to the former Susan Hodgetts of Lexington, Kentucky. They have three daughters: Amy, a 1988 Carnegie-Mellon University graduate; Alix, a 1992 University of Kentucky graduate; and Jill, a 1995 Princeton University graduate.

Introduction Bio Material:

Senior Professor John Stempel served as the Patterson School's fourth director from 1993-2003. He came to UK as the School's Associate Director in August 1988 after a 24-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service.

• His Foreign Service career included service in three African countries, plus Iran and India. His last post before UK was American Consul General to South India at Madras Probably his most exciting assignment was in Iran from 1975-79 before/during/after Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Fundamentalist revolution. There, he was deputy chief of the political section, later acting political counselor. He was on two revolutionary "hit" lists, fortunately without any terminal results. Leaving Iran, he became the State Department's diplomatic professor at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he wrote the definitive book on the revolution, Inside the Iranian Revolution. From 1981-83, he was director of the State Department's worldwide Crisis Center, dealing with irascible ayatollahs, terrorists and the Falklands War. He is married to the former Susan Hodgetts of Lexington, KY, though he himself is a Hoosier, having grown up in Bloomington where his father headed Indiana University's School of Journalism for 30 years. The couple have three daughters, two of whom were born in Africa. He did his undergraduate work at Princeton, and received his MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.
• His father was a Rotarian for 43 years, past president of the Bloomington Rotary, past district governor, and chairman of Rotary International's magazine committee. John followed his father's footsteps and became a Rotarian himself in Madras. He is now an Honorary Rotarian in the Lexington Rotary Club.)