Public Diplomacy Past, Present, and Future: A Practitioner's View

To commemorate the publication of the new “Handbook on Public Diplomacy,” the
Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication is hosting a series of webinars featuring some of the authors who contributed to the volume. In this episode, longtime Senior Foreign Service Officer and former Charge D’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Paris Mark Taplin discusses his chapter on how public diplomacy has become fully integrated into the practice of diplomacy in recent decades, as well as current challenges for public diplomacy from the perspective of a career diplomat.

Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Time: 10 AM EST 

Join the webinar here

Panelists include:

• Mark Taplin, career highlights include: 

  — Joined USIA in 1980 — still under Carter Administration.

  — Served in Moscow 1984-87 as assistant cultural attaché. “Best job I ever had.” Helped organize concert tours by Vladimir Horowitz, Dave Brubeck, Billy Joel — witnessed changes under glasnost, perestroika. First of two assignments in Russia.

  — Served as PAO in Kyiv 1999-2001, then State Department director for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.

  — Nearly 40 year Foreign Service career — split 50-50% between USIA and State Department. “Public diplomacy vital throughout.”

  — DCM + CDA in Bucharest Romania, then in Paris, France.

  — IPDGC Public Diplomacy Fellow 2008-2010. “Had a good boss.”

  — Final position before retirement — ECA DAS for Policy, then Principal DAS, then Acting Assistant Secretary 2015-2017.

  — Trustee, American Councils for International Education 2019-2025.

Moderated by Sean Aday, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University