Patricia Agatha Butenis
United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka
In office
September 17, 2009 – August 1, 2012
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byRobert O. Blake Jr.
Succeeded byMichele J. Sison
United States Ambassador to the Maldives
In office
October 1, 2009 – August 1, 2012
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byRobert O. Blake Jr.
Succeeded byMichele J. Sison
United States Ambassador to Bangladesh
In office
April 13, 2006 – June 23, 2007
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byHarry K. Thomas Jr.
Succeeded byJames F. Moriarty
Personal details
Born1953 (age 70–71)
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania, Columbia University

Patricia Agatha Butenis (born 1953)[1] is an American diplomat. In 2014 she retired with the rank of Career Minister.

Early life and education

Butenis was born in New Jersey[2] in 1953 to Charles P. and Haifa Butenis (née Michalezka). The eldest of three daughters, she grew up in Atco, New Jersey.[3][4] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Columbia University.

Career

Butenis joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980 and served consular tours in Karachi, Pakistan; San Salvador, El Salvador; New Delhi, India; and Bogotá, Colombia.

As the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009,[5] Butenis won the State Department's Baker-Wilkins Award as the Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission (2008).

She was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, and after that, the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh from April 13, 2006 to June 23, 2007.[6] From 2009 to 2012, Butenis was the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the U.S. Ambassador to the Maldives.[7]

Butenis' final career assignment was as the Dean of the School of Professional and Area Studies in the Foreign Service Institute.

Butenis sparked controversy in Sri Lanka in late 2009 when leaked diplomatic cables sent by her on verifying the accountability of war crimes that allegedly happened in the final stages of Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) became public.[8]

References

  1. ^ Patricia A. Butenis (1953–)
  2. ^ "Butenis given assignment in Iraq by year end". The Daily Star. 30 January 2007.
  3. ^ "Hafia (Hazel) Butenis". The Philadelphia Inquirer (Obituary). 29 June 2009 – via Legacy.com.
  4. ^ 2006 Congressional Record, Vol. 152, Page S1353 (February 15, 2006)
  5. ^ cnn.com Archived 2011-09-17 at the Wayback Machine CNN − Iraq: Blackwater staff to face charges, September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  6. ^ "Patricia A. Butenis Biography". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Patricia A. Butenis (1953–)". Department of State.
  8. ^ Staff writer (December 1, 2010). "US Worried on Sri Lanka Rights Probe: WikiLeaks". Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.

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Diplomatic posts Preceded byHarry K. Thomas Jr. United States Ambassador to Bangladesh 2006–2007 Succeeded byJames F. Moriarty Preceded byRobert O. Blake Jr. U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka 2009–2012 Succeeded byMichele J. Sison
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