Colleen Graffy

Who is Colleen Graffy?

Colleen Graffy is a former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy for Europe and Eurasia, and associate professor of law and Director of Global Programs at Pepperdine University School of Law and Academic Director of their London campus.

Graffy is originally from Santa Barbara, California. She earned her B.A. from Pepperdine University and her M.A. from Boston University. She attended Pepperdine’s study abroad program in Heidelberg while an undergraduate and later became co-Director of Pepperdine’s campus in Heidelberg, Germany.

She moved to the United Kingdom after completing her masters degree to start Pepperdine’s new London undergraduate program where she was the director and taught international relations and British government. She earned a law degree at City University and the Inns of Court School of Law and an LLM at King's College London. She was called to the Bar of England & Wales and is a Barrister and Bencher at The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. She was chairman of SEAL and was chairman of Republicans Abroad for the United Kingdom.

She joined the U.S. State Department in 2005 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, the first person to hold that position. She reported to both the Assistant Secretary, Daniel Fried in the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs and the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes,.