A career Foreign Service officer, Gonzales was nominated by President Joe Biden. He most recently served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of African Affairs.
The first time Michael Gonzales 鈥96 set foot in Zambia, he was an SA国际传媒 student hitchhiking through the country en route to see ancient ruins in Zimbabwe. He was in Africa through SA国际传媒鈥檚 Richter Grant program, studying education reform in Namibia. Little did he know that 27 years later he would be named U.S. ambassador to Zambia.
Gonzales was sworn in on August 10, 2022, after a yearlong selection and confirmation process that concluded with the U.S. Senate鈥檚 confirmation of his appointment. As ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Zambia, he will oversee everything that the administrative and executive branches of the U.S. government engages on in-country. This includes the nearly half a billion dollars that the U.S. provides annually to Zambia in development and humanitarian assistance.
About 70% of U.S. ambassadors are career Foreign Service officers like Gonzales. 鈥淢any who enter the foreign service have the desire of one day becoming an ambassador,鈥 he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 just tickled that the State Department and the president have decided to entrust me with this position.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to learn of Michael鈥檚 recent appointment as U.S. ambassador to Zambia,鈥 says Professor Emeritus of History Brice Harris, one of Gonzales鈥 mentors at SA国际传媒. 鈥淗e will continue further our shared enthusiasm for Africa and its peoples.鈥
A Diplomacy & World Affairs major at SA国际传媒, Gonzales has spent his career building partnerships with host governments, international partners, and civil society organizations with the goal of promoting good governance, opening political space, improving business environments, protecting human rights, and expanding economic opportunity.
In Zambia鈥檚 2021 presidential election, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema won with a 59% majority after five failed runs, an exciting development. According to Gonzales, the new president is making all the right commitments in terms of democracy, accountability and an enabling environment for the private sector.
鈥淭hese are issues I鈥檝e spent my entire career focused on around Africa and Asia,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a wonderful year watching Zambia鈥檚 renaissance and now having the chance to go out there myself and lead the U.S. government鈥檚 contribution to it is really fantastic.鈥
Most recently, Gonzales served for two years in the Bureau of African Affairs, where his portfolio covered West Africa and the Sahel Region. Before that he was the director for analysis of Africa in the State Department鈥檚 Bureau of Intelligence and Research. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of minister-counselor, Gonzales previously served as deputy chief of mission and charg茅 d鈥檃ffaires, ad interim, at the U.S. embassies in Kathmandu, Nepal and Lilongwe, Malawi.
Occidental has a long history of producing ambassadors and other Foreign Service professionals. Gonzales is the second alumnus to serve as ambassador to Zambia, following David Dunn 鈥71 who served from 1999 to 2002.
