Diplomat Accepts Joint Appointment

James Joseph, who recently completed his term as the first post-apartheid United States ambassador to South Africa, will now devote his energies to helping emerging leaders in southern Africa through a joint appointment at Duke University and the University of Cape Town. Joseph is a newly appointed professor of the practice at Duke's Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the new leader-in-residence of the Sanford Institute's Hart Leadership Program. As a leader-in-residence, Joseph will alternate semesters between Duke and the University of Cape Town, where he is an honorary professor in the Graduate School of the Humanities. At Cape Town, he will teach a graduate course on leadership; in the fall of 2000, he will teach a course at Duke on leadership and public values. Joseph also is developing an independent Center on Leadership and Public Values, which will be based in Durham and in Cape Town. The center, which last month received a $200,000 planning grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will work in partnership with Duke and the University of Cape Town to help emerging leaders in southern Africa contribute to the development and reconstruction of their countries and the region. There also will be an emphasis on forging links between independent sector groups in South Africa and the United States, and to contributing to the public discussion of ethics in public life. Joseph served as ambassador to South Africa from January 1996 to November 1999, and was the first and only U.S. ambassador to present his credentials to President Nelson Mandela. In recognition of Joseph's contributions, South African President Thabo Mbeki awarded him the Order of Good Hope, the highest honor the Republic of South Africa bestows on a citizen of another country. "We feel very privileged and excited to have someone with such a distinguished career as part of our faculty," said Bruce Jentleson, director of the Sanford Institute. "Having James Joseph as a faculty member will be of tremendous benefit to our students. We also look forward to having him contribute to the institute's broader research and policy agenda, particularly through his ability to play a major role in our efforts to further develop our international policy initiatives and our emphasis on ethics and leadership." Before President Clinton appointed Joseph ambassador to South Africa, Joseph served as the first chairman of the board of directors of Clinton's Corporation for National Service. He also has served three other U.S. presidents: he served as Interior undersecretary and chairman of the presidentially appointed Commission on the Northern Mariannas under President Carter; was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Agency for International Development under President Reagan; and was an incorporating director of the Points of Light Foundation and a member of the Presidential Commission on Historically Black Colleges under President Bush. He also was president and chief executive officer of the Council on Foundations from 1982-95, undersecretary of the Department of Interior from 1977-81, and a vice president of Cummins Engine Co. and president of the Cummins Engine Foundation from 1971-76. Joseph, a Louisiana native who has served on a number of boards and is the recipient of many honorary degrees, is a former civil rights activist in Alabama. He is the author of two books, The Charitable Impulse (1989) and Remaking America (1995), and is now at work on a book that focuses on ethics in public life. He has taught at Yale Divinity School and the Claremont Colleges, where he was university chaplain. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, of Battle Creek, Mich., was established in 1930 to "help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve the quality of life and that of future generations." The foundation targets its grants toward such areas as health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy, volunteerism and leadership.