Over the course of his career, retired Foreign Service Officer Robert Dry has worked in Washington, D.C., France, the Sultanate of Oman, China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. He has served the Department of State since 1975, currently as the Diplomat-In-Residence for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut since September 2008. On Oct. 2, Dry spoke on campus to discuss careers in the Foreign Service.

“I have had the opportunity to travel where few Americans have ever gone in a number of countries,” wrote Dry in an e-mail to the Argus.

Dry, the fourth Diplomat-In-Residence to have spoken at the University, is currently stationed at the City University of New York. After passing the Foreign Service Officer Test in 1981, Dry was sent to Baghdad as Vice Consul at the United States Interests Section of the Belgium Embassy. For most of his tenure he served as Economic and Science Officer, heading the Economic Sections in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Hanoi, Vietnam. He also served as an acting ambassador in Muscat, Oman shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.

Pre-Law Advisor Jim Kubat—who heads the “Careers for the Common Good” program—solicited Dry to speak at the University. Given that “Careers for the Common Good” seeks to inspire students to lead lives of public service, Dry spoke directly to students interested in a government position and the Foreign Service.

“The fit between a Wesleyan student and their liberal arts training and a career in the Foreign Service: he nailed that right on the head,” Kubat said. “He said that the Foreign Service is looking for critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, and doers, and to me, that describes a Wesleyan student.”

Dry’s career has required extensive interaction with prominent political figures across the globe, including presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

“It was exciting to be part of the process of concluding the normalization talks with Vietnam and also working with Ambassador Pete Peterson, a truly superb human being,” Dry wrote in an e-mail to The Argus. “President Clinton was very gracious with his time and interested in my views about Vietnam. George H.W. Bush, when he was Vice President, listened very closely to what I had to say about the Sultanate of Oman even though I was a junior officer at the time.”

Although all of his travels representing the U.S. were exciting, the life of a diplomat has its downsides. Dry says that constantly moving and resettling has been particularly difficult for his family.

University student Jeff Bizinkauskas ’10 attended Dry’s lecture. He said he was impressed with Dry’s engaging way of speaking as well as his extensive career.

“He was throwing out all of these locations of the places that he has worked, like the Middle East, but in perfect dialects,” Bizinkauskas said.

Bizinkauskas, a Government major, worked as an intern in the Government Accountability Office this past summer. He underwent training for the Federal Service Student Ambassadorship Program, and is currently a Peer Career Advisor for students looking for a career in government.

During his talk Dry mentioned the value of government internships for undergraduate students.

“[Dry] was talking about how interns at the Department of State are actually doing things,” Bizinkauskas said. “They’re really engaged. That’s true for most government positions: they really put their interns to work. They give them real responsibility and expect them to contribute to whatever office they’re working under.”

Dry hopes his lecture inspired students to follow his career path, and recalled attending a similar talk while in college that influenced him to become a diplomat. He offered up some sage advice to students interested in following his career path.

“Students need to commit themselves,” Dry wrote. “Competition in all things has risen in today’s globalized world. Have fun (but not too much) and keep your focus on what you want to do. Above all, preserve this country for posterity, while keeping in mind the challenges all humanity faces.”