Mark Gitenstein, U.S. ambassador to the European Union (2022-25), will join the University of Notre Dame between March 22 and April 4 as the Nanovic Forum Diplomat in Residence at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, part of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. During this residency, he will instruct the Deep Dive into Diplomacy course taught by Clemens Sedmak, director of the institute and professor of social ethics at the Keough School. Gitenstein will also offer a public lunch lecture on Wednesday (March 26) at 12:30 p.m. in 1030 Jenkins Nanovic Halls. He will speak on "The Future of Democracy in Europe.”

Before being named ambassador to the European Union, Gitenstein served as partner and counsel for Mayer Brown LLP for more than 30 years. He also held previous government roles, including serving as U.S. ambassador to Romania (2009-12) and working with the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

He will serve as the second Nanovic Forum Diplomat in Residence, following Catherine Arnold OBE, master of St. Edmund’s College at the University of Cambridge, and former British ambassador to Mongolia. This residency allows students to interact on a much deeper level with experts in diplomacy and enriches the course content.

Sedmak said, “We were so impressed by how much our students learned from classroom and one-to-one conversations with Ambassador Arnold last year that we could not wait to welcome our next Nanovic Forum Diplomat in Residence.”

He added that “Ambassador Gitenstein’s perspective and ability to bring in additional guest speakers in the field today will give students a very comprehensive picture of the international diplomatic landscape, especially with regard to Europe. These lessons are more timely than ever for our diplomacy students and the campus community at large, who will have a chance to hear from the ambassador at his public lecture.”

This public lecture will be co-sponsored through both the Nanovic Forum and the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative’s Democracy Talks series.

All Notre Dame students, faculty and staff, as well as the general public, are invited to this event. Participants will be offered lunch before the event, beginning at 12 p.m. and while supplies last. The event will be recorded and published afterward on the Nanovic Institute’s YouTube channel, as well as archived on its website where previous Nanovic Forum addresses may also be found.

Generously established by Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic, the Nanovic Forum’s mission is to bring Europe’s leaders from many fields to Notre Dame to explore, discuss and debate the most pressing questions about Europe today.

Past Nanovic Forum visitors have included, among many others, Giorgi Margvelashvili, former president of Georgia; Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, former president of Croatia; and Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Polish-American journalist.

Originally published by Keith Sayer at nanovic.nd.edu on March 24.

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu