Swanee Hunt, U.S. ambassador to Austria since 1993, will join the Kennedy School of Government as a fellow of the Women's Leadership Initiative upon completion of her appointment as ambassador, Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. recently announced.

Hunt will work with the Kennedy School faculty in helping to define future activities related to the possible creation of a center on women. In addition, she will mentor students and lecture.

The Women's Leadership Initiative studies and furthers the impact of women's contributions to leadership and public life. The Initiative provides fellowships for students, commissions cases about women leaders, hosts topical conferences convening world experts, and sponsors relevant research.

Hunt will participate in the Initiative-sponsored luncheon series providing a candid venue for students to learn from prominent women of accomplishment.

"The Women's Leadership Initiative is the result of months of thought and discussion on how best to bring women and issues of interest to women to the forefront of study at the Kennedy School," said Nye. "Ambassador Hunt has a long and distinguished history of working to improve the opportunities of women worldwide. Her extensive experience will help guide our effort."

"I look forward to working with the outstanding faculty at the Kennedy School, whom I've long admired from afar," said Hunt. "I feel confident my domestic and international experiences will complement the analytical work of the School, so that we can provide an environment in which emerging women leaders not only learn, but thrive."

As ambassador, Hunt has engaged Austrians in a dialogue about the emerging security structure of a new, united Europe and has represented U.S. and Austrian interests to business executives, academic and cultural leaders, journalists, government officials, and the general public in both countries.

Hunt has also been a conduit between the U.S. and Austria in forging efforts for humanitarian and political support in the Balkans. She hosted negotiations to create the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1994 and sponsored subsequent meetings and projects to strengthen forces of reconciliation in the region.

Within the framework of the Bosnian Women's Initiative, Hunt keynoted a women's conference in Sarajevo with over 500 participants across all ethnic and political boundaries. She also organized a global campaign for refugee women in northern Bosnia, mobilizing support valued at millions of dollars. Recently, she hosted 300 women leaders from Eastern and Western Europe and the United States for a conference called "Vital Voices: Women and Democracy." Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the keynote address.

Hunt has long been in the forefront of private and governmental initiatives to improve the conditions of the disadvantaged in American society. She has extensive experience in shaping U.S. domestic public policy in areas such as health care, education, housing, and jobs. She is donor and chair of The Hunt Alternatives Fund, a private foundation addressing pressing problems of poverty and discrimination.

In addition to being published in several professional journals of psychology, religion, and international affairs, Hunt writes a monthly commentary for a leading Colorado newspaper, a weekly column in the largest Austrian daily newspaper, and reaches the international community in Austria through a weekly radio program. She was most recently profiled in the July/August 1997 issue of Foreign Affairs, "Women's Vital Voices: The Costs of Exclusion in Eastern Europe."

Hunt holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, two master's degrees Ñ in psychology and in religion Ñ and a doctorate in theology. A native of Dallas, Texas, Hunt lived four years in Heidelberg, Germany, and 17 years in Denver, Colo.