Perspectives on International Affairs and Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter

The Penn State School of International Affairs (SIA) is pleased to host Her Excellency Karin Olofsdotter, ambassador of Sweden to the United States, for a public talk from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, in the Lewis Katz Building. Ambassador Olofsdotter took office in September 2018.

This event, “Perspectives on International Affairs and Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter,” is free and open to the public.

Ambassador Olofsdotter’s career in the Foreign Service started in 1994 with her first posting to the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow. In the years following, she worked in security policy and defense issues as well as in numerous leadership posts within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including serving as chief of staff for several of its ministers. She has served as part of the Swedish delegation to NATO as well as at the Swedish EU Representation in Brussels, working with European security policy and defense issues. 

In 2008, she was appointed deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C. In 2011, she entered her first ambassadorial position as ambassador of Sweden to Hungary. Prior to assuming the role as ambassador to the United States, H.E. Olofsdotter served as director-general for trade at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. She has also held the position of deputy director-general and head of the Department for Promotion of Sweden, Trade, and CSR. 

Ambassador Olofsdotter has a B.A. in psychology, economics, and Russian. She studied at UCLA Anderson School of Management and speaks Russian, French and English.

For more information about the event, contact Director of the School of International Affairs Dr. Scott Sigmund Gartner at ssg13@psu.edu or (814) 867-2789.