Our program on June 17, 2021 featured Damian Wampler, Public Diplomacy Officer, Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State discussing the state of US-Russian Relations.
This program was off-the-record.
Damian joined the Foreign Service in 2009. His first assignment was in Central Asia, where he served as the Embassy Spokesperson and Information Officer in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Due to his background in education and culture, he served as the Cultural Affairs Officer in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in Moscow. He has managed and overseen major academic and professional exchange programs such as Fulbright and created numerus programs to promote cross-cultural understanding. He has also served in a consular capacity adjudicating visas and supporting American citizens overseas in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Karachi, Pakistan.
Before joining the Foreign Service, Damian served in the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan teaching English and returned to Kyrgyzstan as a Fulbright scholar to do research. He also worked as a recruiter for the FLEX high school exchange program in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and as Peace Corps recruiter for the New York regional office.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Anthropology from Boston University, and received his Master’s in human and political geography from the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia at UW-Madison. He also earned a Master’s in Professional Studies from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and is a photographer and author of plays, screenplays, and graphic novels. He was born and raised in Newark, Delaware, and serves overseas with his wife, son, and two dogs.