Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, who served as the top U.S. envoy to Singapore, China and Indonesia, will serve as Troy University’s Ambassador-in-Residence next week, including an Oct. 16 presentation to the Alabama World Affairs Council at the University’s Montgomery Campus.
During his visit, Roy will speak to classes on the Troy Campus and deliver the public lecture, “The Geopolitics of China’s Power,” at 3 p.m. on Oct. 18 in the James F. Rinehart Auditorium in the Math and Science Complex.
U.S.-China relations will be the topic of his presentation to the World Affairs Council on Oct. 16. The event, which will be held in the Whitley Hall Gold Room on TROY’s Montgomery Campus, will begin with a 5:30 p.m. reception, followed by Roy’s presentation, “The United States and China: A New Type of Great Power Relationship.” The presentation is free to ALWAC members and $20 for guests. To register for the event, visit the ALWAC website.
Roy is a distinguished scholar and founding director emeritus of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Born in China, Roy joined the U.S. Foreign Service immediately after graduating from Princeton University in 1956. He retired after 45 years of service with the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the service.
In 1978, he participated in the secret negotiations that led to the establishment of U.S.-People’s Republic of China diplomatic relations. During a career focused on East Asia and the Soviet Union, Roy’s ambassadorial assignments included Singapore, China, and Indonesia. His final post with the State Department was as assistant secretary for intelligence and research. On retirement he joined Kissinger Associates, Inc., a strategic consulting firm, before joining the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in September 2008 to head the newly created Kissinger Institute. In 2001, he received Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Public Service.
TROY’s Ambassador-in-Residence program, under the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, began in 2008 and has included former ambassadors Sichan Siv (United Nations), J. Gary Cooper (Jamaica), Kurt Volker (NATO), Jenonne Walker (Czech Republic), David Dunford (Oman), Kenneth Yalowitz (Republic of Georgia), David Greenlee (Paraguay and Bolivia), Connie Morella (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), and Dr. Jack Matlock (Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia).
