PELLA — Monday evening, Central College conferred an honorary degree onRichard Haass following his talk and interview with CBS senior news correspondent Harry Smith. Smith, a board member and Central alumnus, along with President Mark Putnam and Robert Franks, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, presented Haass with a hood and honorary degree. Haass was on campus as part of Central’s inaugural year Horizons of Opportunity global reach week activities which run through Friday.
Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.
Haass is author/editor of 11 books on American foreign policy. He has been U.S. coordinator for the Future of Afghanistan. He served in the Departments of State and Defense and was a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. From 1989-93, he was special assistant to United States President George Bush and National Security Council Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs. In 1991, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal for his contributions to the development and articulation of U.S. policy during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. For two years, Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, Haass also served as a U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process.
A Rhodes Scholar, Haass holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University. Haass lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
