David Ballard is the Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Foreign Press. In that capacity, he manages the Department’s three Foreign Press Centers, which assist foreign journalists by providing direct access to authoritative sources of information within the U.S. Government.

A career member of the Foreign Service since 1985, Ballard’s assignments include Morocco, Rwanda, Angola, Mozambique, Washington, Tunisia, and Egypt. Ballard recently returned from Iraq, where he worked from November 2003 through February 2004 to set up the public affairs office of the future U.S. embassy in Iraq. He also organized “town hall” meetings in many Iraqi cities as forums for Iraqis to discuss the political transition process.

The Colloquium Lecture Series is sponsored by the Graduate Studies and Research Division of the College of Journalism and Communications.