Name Shirley Barnes | ||
 | ||
Shirley Elizabeth Barnes (born 1938) is a former United States diplomat. A career Foreign Service officer, she was appointed United States Ambassador to Madagascar from June 29, 1998 to July 28, 2001.
She was a part of the Senior Seminar Class of the National War College graduating in 1995.
Barnes was the director of Western European affairs in the Bureau of European Affairs at the United States Department of State and served as a diplomat in West Berlin, Cairo, Sofia, and Dakar. She was also consul general in Strasbourg, France.
Before joining the Foreign Service, Barnes became vice president in several major advertising agencies and worked for the Ford Foundation in the Republic of Congo, Kinshasa. She also worked for the historic African-American Institute in New York City.
She received a master's degree in business from Columbia University and an undergraduate bachelor's degree, also in business, from Baruch College. She also studied International Affairs at Boston University.
In 2004 she founded the Barnes Findley Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting women and girls in the African Diaspora with an emphasis on anti-human trafficking and economic empowerment.
Barnes received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2006 from Knox College.
She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the American Foreign Service Association. She is also an avid patron of African art and speaks French.