Phyllis E Oakley

Phyllis Elliott Oakley (born 1934 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a diplomat who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (1994–97) and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research (1997–99). She was married to former Ambassador Robert B. Oakley and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Council on Foreign Relations. Oakley is a graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, at Tufts University.

Ms. Oakley held a variety of positions within the U.S. foreign service. She was a Staff Assistant to Under Secretary Philip Habib, an Afghanistan Desk Officer and a Cultural Affairs Officer in Kinshasa (on loan to the United States Information Agency, USIA). She worked with the Agency for International Development (AID) Afghanistan’s cross-border humanitarian assistance program in Pakistan and served in Congressional Affairs for the Near Eastern Bureau of the State Department.

Currently an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, Phyllis Oakley is teaching a course on functional issues in American foreign policy. She has also been a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University and serves on the visiting board of the College of Arts and Sciences of Northwestern University and the advisory board for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. She was chair of the board at Americans for UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) from 2003 to 2007 while also serving as chair of the Public Affairs Committee and Nominating Committee at Americans for UNFPA.