Exploring Careers at the U.S. Department of State

Nolen Johnson joined the State Department in 2010 as a Foreign Service officer, serving at overseas postings in Angola, Egypt, Pakistan, and most recently in Kyrgyzstan.  He has also worked in Washington D.C. in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  He became ECA’s Global Alumni Coordinator in August 2023, and is an alumnus of both the Peace Corps (TEFL - Mozambique 2003-2005) and the Boren Fellowship program (Arabic - Morocco 2008).  He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian.  Nolen has a B.A. from the W-Madison, and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.   

Dan Pattarini is a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. In nearly 16 years of service, his overseas assignments include tours in Oman, Egypt, Iraq, and Luxembourg. Domestically, he has worked for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Office of Foreign Missions, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and, in his current assignment, in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Dan studied Arabic and French with the Department. He joined the State Department after attending graduate school and a period working as a secondary school history teacher and for an international educational non-profit. Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from American University.  Within the Foreign Service, Dan is primarily focused on public diplomacy and currently serves as the Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for the Nordics, Baltics, and Arctic region where he supports public diplomacy efforts across eight countries and the Arctic region. Born in New York, Dan has called Virginia home since he moved there as a child. He and his wife Katy have three children and a Labrador retriever.

Kelsi Ward serves as the Branch Chief for the Humphrey Fellowships and Community College Programs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, she oversees several global academic and professional exchange programs designed to advance U.S. foreign policy priorities.  She has held multiple positions at ECA facilitating exchange programs, promoting U.S. higher education, and supporting public private partnerships. Kelsi also served in the Secretary of State’s executive office, coordinating high-level trips around the world and completed a temporary assignment as Acting Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy Buenos Aires. Kelsi began her career in public service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru.  Kelsi holds a degree from the College of Charleston in South Carolina and recently completed the Secretary’s Leadership Seminar, an Executive Education Program through Harvard Business School.