Fifteen months after first being nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, Karen Sasahara was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2023. The journey to confirmation was long but the road to reach this high point in her career started in Milwaukee.
Sasahara graduated from UWM in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in international studies. In a recent interview with UWM, she talked about what brought her to Milwaukee, how she built a career in international relations, and her optimistic outlook for the future.
UWM circa 1977
Like many soon-to-be high school graduates, Sasahara wanted to move away from home and explore new places. Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb outside of Boston, the Midwest held appeal because her mother was from Ohio and her grandmother was from Wisconsin. Like many 18-year-olds, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study.
“I talked to my high school guidance counselor who recommended occupational therapy. UWM and a college in Seattle popped up as possibilities. The acceptance to UWM came first so that’s the university I picked,” she recalled with a wry laugh.
That quirk of timing, Sasahara said, turned into the best four years of her life.
New Friends Help Forge Her Path
“This was my first time away from home. I didn’t know anyone and took a bus from the airport to my dorm room on the 20th floor of Sandburg Hall North Tower,” Sasahara recalled.
Engaging in campus life led Sasahara to circles of friends who influenced her decision to reset her career plans. Since she wasn’t able to go home to the east coast often, she roamed campus where she met students from all over: Wisconsinites of course, but also students from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and South America. They bonded over the distance away from family, explored downtown – the discos were a particular favorite – and found themselves at their Wisconsin friends’ homes for holidays. (Fun Fact: There was a disco called Cabaret on the second floor of the North Tower at Sandburg Hall.)
These diverse friendships and the breadth of courses she was taking changed her trajectory from occupational therapy to foreign policy and eventually public service.
“I had so many thought-provoking professors. I took courses in international politics, history of Africa, French and Russian language classes. … I studied Arabic and went abroad to Paris after having taken a high school field trip to Russia and Finland,” said Sasahara. “I just loved it all.”
Her friends told her about the Foreign Service exam, the starting point to a Foreign Service career with the U.S. State Department. Although Sasahara didn’t take the exam right away, instead moving to Washington D.C. to pursue a master’s degree in Near East Studies at George Washington University, the seed was planted.
D.C. and Beyond
Life in D.C. was full of politics, policy, and networking. She quickly became immersed in the city’s unique political and government culture. She worked at a Middle East-focused think tank for a few years before taking the Foreign Service exam – and passing.
Sasahara’s 35+ years of assignments have taken her all over the globe, but the Middle East has been the usual destination that has defined the focus of her career. She’s been assigned to Saudi Arabia, London, Yemen, Beirut, Mexico City, Washington D.C., and Baghdad, to name a few, typically focusing on political affairs, military affairs, counterterrorism, or counter narcotics.
Sasahara’s leadership led to her assignment as the Consul General in Jerusalem where she was the primary liaison for the State Department with the Palestinian Authority. She held the position of Chargé d’Affaires in Jordan from 2019-2020, the top diplomatic position at the time in lieu of an ambassador. From 2020-2022, Sasahara was deputy assistant secretary of state for North Africa in the Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs.
From Appointment …. to Ambassador
Becoming an ambassador is typically a lengthy process, but in today’s tumultuous legislative environment, it’s hard to predict the timeline of the Senate confirmation process.
Sasahara’s process began in 2022, when a list of candidates for a particular country is narrowed down to a short list that is then forwarded to a committee of senior leaders of the State Department, who evaluate the candidates’ qualifications. One name is then sent to the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House for further vetting and final consent, after which the White House announces the President’s nominees. These presidential announcements also include Judicial candidates and heads of federal agencies and entities. They all must receive Senate confirmation.
President Biden first sent Sasahara’s name to the Senate in August 2022. However, a confirmation hearing was not held by the end of the year, resulting in a re-nomination of dozens of nominees in January 2023, Sasahara included. The Senate Foreign Relations Near East Subcommittee held a hearing in March 2023 with a subsequent vote in favor of her nomination, leading to a full Senate confirmation vote in October 2023.
“My first reactions were both relief and happiness. You always hope for fast confirmation so there was relief that the process was over. Then there is happiness and recognition of the honor you’ve been given to serve ‘at the pleasure of the President’,” she said. For Sasahara, the confirmation also meant she and her husband would live and work on the same continent. Her husband, Michael Ratney, is the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and has been there since early 2023. Said Sasahara, “It was nice to at least be in the same time zone again!”
In her current role, Sasahara is effectively the CEO for the embassy in Kuwait. While the Deputy Chief of Mission manages the day-to-day operations at the embassy, the ambassador is the public face and voice of the U.S. government. Sasahara is committed to keeping existing relationships strong, building new governmental and business relationships, advocating for beneficial commercial activity between Kuwait and the U.S., and helping Americans in the country with anything they may need from their government.
Advice from an Ambassador
Sasahara treasures her time at UWM because it set her on a path to great career success through both its academics and diverse environment. She closed the interview with words of advice for current and future college students, regardless of what they choose to study: “Go to university to be exposed to new ideas and new people. Be prepared to debate, listen, question, and think in new ways.” This, she counsels, is the way to develop leadership skills, problem solving ability, good judgment, and listening and interpersonal skills – qualities held by successful leaders in all fields.
And for those students who are interested in a life of public service, particularly foreign policy, she encourages them to worry less about which specific major to pick and instead focus on learning through experience, whether that’s through participating in study abroad, the Peace Corps, military service, or overseas internships. The Foreign Service ranks include people from all types of backgrounds – accountants, language specialists, teachers, engineers, graphic designers, lawyers, forestry specialists, filmmakers, and more.
“The Foreign Service is a way of life, and public service is more than just a job. They’re contributions to your country, to fellow Americans, with professional satisfaction and amazing personal adventures and experiences,” she says.
By Deanna Alba, Letters & Science
The Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT) is offered three times a year and is the first of five steps to a career in U.S. foreign service. Any U.S. citizen between the ages of 20 and 59 can take the exam which covers U.S. government, politics, current events, history, geography, grammar and written communication, decision-making, and problem-solving. See careers.state.gov for more information.