Alumni Profiles

Seche Appointed Ambassador to Yemen

The new U.S. Ambassador to Yemen is Stephen A. Seche '74 (journalism), who fills the position previously held by another UMass Amherst alumnus, Thomas C. Krajeski '75 (Russian). A career foreign-service officer, Seche has spent most of his 27 years with the Department of State engaged in public diplomacy. In February 2005 he was appointed Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, when the Ambassador was recalled to Washington for consultations in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Seche also has been the U.S. State Department diplomat in residence at University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center of Public Diplomacy, teaching and advising graduate students interested in pursuing careers in foreign service. Seche was an integral part of the educational experience for the program’s master's degree students.

Entering the Foreign Service in 1978, Seche, who speaks Spanish and French, spent seven years in Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. Other overseas assignments included four years (1989-1993) as Information Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and four years (1993 -1997) as Press Attaché in New Delhi, India. Following his service there, he returned to Washington for the first of two years of Arabic language training, completing the program at the Foreign Service Institute’s Field School in Tunis.

From 1999-2002, Seche was Counselor for Public Affairs and Director of the American Cultural Center. He spent two years between his Damascus tours as Director of the Office for Egypt and Levant Affairs at the Department of State.

Accompanying Seche in Yemen is his wife, Susan Canning.

September 4, 2007

Read article about Stephen Seche and his thoughts on press freedom, education, health care, and supporting Yemen’s economy in the Yemen Observer.