Crisis to Calm: A Journey from High Stakes Diplomacy to Higher Education
June 20, 2019
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
In the aftermath of fires, floods and international conflict, Jane Zimmerman has witnessed true compassion.
People at war giving first aid to the opposition. Struggling survivors of past disasters rushing to help the newly afflicted. Villagers offering their homes, friendship and what little they have to strangers.
As a rookie Foreign Service officer in Mali, Africa; a veteran embassy leader evacuating Americans from war-torn Lebanon via Cyprus; and a Red Cross executive director on a relief mission in the Gaza Strip, Zimmerman has seen the world at its worst and best.
She balances that duality with a mantra learned from an early mentor: The best people have a cold eye and a warm heart.
鈥淵ou need a cold analytical eye, but you also need to know that everything you do will have an impact on someone else,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just what you do, it鈥檚 how you do it. Being kind to one another is of utmost importance. It can literally save lives.鈥
Zimmerman brings three decades of world travel experience to 皇家华人, where she鈥檒l be the new John and Ruth McGee Director of the Dean Rusk International Studies Program. She begins in July.
She says she wants to help students from all majors and means have an opportunity to travel, study and research abroad: 鈥淚t can be an incredibly powerful experience. You learn so much about other countries and cultures, but you learn even more about your own country and yourself.鈥
Zimmerman also plans to connect students with internships, jobs and volunteer organizations such as the Peace Corps.
鈥淚 want students to see the opportunities that are out there -- it鈥檚 not always a clear or easy path -- but it should be one within reach,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 will do what I can to make those opportunities open and accessible for whatever paths students wish to pursue.鈥
She plans to build on 皇家华人鈥檚 longstanding partnership with the World Affairs Council of Charlotte, and collaborate with the U.S. State Department鈥檚 diplomat-in-residence at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
鈥淚 hope that 皇家华人 students will look at the Foreign Service and public service as a wonderful future career,鈥 she said.
With North Carolina鈥檚 growing international population, Zimmerman also wants to expand relationships with local and regional communities. Zimmerman says she was impressed to learn about 皇家华人 Refugee Support from Daniel Thomas 鈥21, a search committee member.
鈥淥ne out of four people in the United States is either an immigrant or first-generation American,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e need to recognize and value the diversity of our own communities.鈥
Search committee members say Zimmerman鈥檚 extensive travels, experience, enthusiasm and record of mentoring made her an ideal leader.
鈥淪he has fantastic connections in the United States and abroad,鈥 said Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science. 鈥淪he鈥檚 somebody who can counsel students not only how to spend their time abroad, but how to develop themselves for professional careers.
鈥淪he knows people everywhere and that is a huge advantage for our students. She can leverage all that experience and knowledge for a generation that鈥檚 just getting started.鈥
Search committee member Julia Knoerr 鈥21 agreed.
鈥淲hat really stood out to me was her passion for mentoring,鈥 Knoerr said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 someone students will be comfortable talking to. She鈥檚 very warm and welcoming and seems to care a lot. She is also excited about what she鈥檒l be doing and what she鈥檚 done in the past.鈥
Road Less Traveled
Zimmerman says she was born into wanderlust.
Her father served in the Pacific during World War II. Upon returning, he bought a motorcycle and traveled through Mexico and Central America. Her mother traveled the world through the books she devoured in the library of her small midwestern farm town.
鈥淢y mom was the most avid reader I have ever known and really gave us our love for reading,鈥 Zimmerman said.
Her parents sold their dairy farm and moved to St. Louis when she and her siblings were young.
Her mother became a librarian and her dad had jobs ranging from farmer to stockbroker to hospital janitor.
Through books Zimmerman developed a fascination with other countries and in high school spent a summer abroad as an exchange student in Switzerland. Her older sister was the first in the family to go to college and studied abroad as a Fulbright scholar in what鈥檚 in Sri Lanka.
At Macalester College, Zimmerman majored in international studies and developed a propensity for foreign languages -- setting her up for future proficiency in French, Brazilian Portuguese and Arabic. With financial aid, she spent her junior year abroad at Cambridge University in England.
After graduation and a year in banking she applied to graduate school and took the Foreign Service exam but failed. 鈥淓verybody fails the first time,鈥 she said.
She finished graduate school at Tufts University鈥檚 Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, passed the Foreign Service exam on her second try, and moved to Mali, Africa for her first assignment.
鈥淚t was like stepping back in time. There were two buildings in the country with elevators and only one worked,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t was so peaceful then. Sadly, it鈥檚 not anymore. Back then the biggest safety threats were road accidents and petty banditry. You could travel anywhere.
鈥淲e would show up and camp with villagers. People were so exceedingly kind, generous and hospitable. The differences were so stark that it made what you had in common so real, regardless of our backgrounds or circumstances.鈥
Other assignments included Brazil, Tunisia, Tel Aviv, the Gaza Strip and Cyprus, interspersed with positions in Washington, D.C.
Jillian Burns 鈥86 met Zimmerman in 1997 when both were Foreign Service officers studying Arabic for Middle East assignments.
鈥淚 was immediately impressed by her love of different cultures and her deep understanding of the Middle East. I found her inspiring, and she made me feel much more comfortable about my assignment to Jordan,鈥 Burns said. 鈥淭he friendship we formed helped me a lot.
鈥淪he was the first person I turned to for career advice after I retired from the Foreign Service.鈥
At 皇家华人, Burns went through the Dean Rusk program when former United States Ambassador Jack Perry was director. She said Perry influenced her own decision to join the Foreign Service.
鈥淚 drew inspiration from Ambassador Perry in college, then I drew inspiration from Jane in my career,鈥 Burns said. 鈥淣ow Jane can inspire a new generation.鈥
Humanitarian Principles
Zimmerman鈥檚 Middle East expertise led to one of her biggest career challenges. In 2006, she served as a crisis leader in Cyprus when violence between Lebanon and Israel escalated, jeopardizing the safety of more than 15,000 Americans there.
She oversaw their evacuation via Cyprus, which included creating an emergency shelter -- effectively a refugee camp for Americans -- on the site of commercial fairgrounds. The exhibition halls held thousands of cots, first aid stations, portable showers and bathrooms and air-conditioned rest and recreational areas.
鈥淚t was a life or death situation for our own citizens and we all helped each other out,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ur job was to help our fellow citizens -- that comes before everything else for any U.S. embassy.
鈥淏efore the crisis, our Embassy team -- Americans and Cypriots alike -- had formed these really deep relationships and developed respect and confidence in one another. That proved critical in our response.鈥
What could have been even more traumatic for the Americans ended up being a fond memory for many.
Diplomats, Marines and embassy workers organized games, movies and field trips for the children. When an evacuation flight was delayed, a Drug Enforcement Agency agent used his cellphone and credit card to refuel a bus full of anxious evacuees and have pizza delivered on board while leading them in a singalong.
鈥淲e often had kids crying because they didn鈥檛 want to leave,鈥 Zimmerman said of the makeshift camp. 鈥淚n a word, it was epic.鈥
She retired from the State Department in 2013 and immediately joined the American Red Cross as its executive director of international policy and external affairs. There, she oversaw policy and relations with other humanitarian organizations.
She expanded relief programs for families separated while trying to cross the United States southern border as well as people suffering after natural disasters, such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013 and the Nepal earthquake in 2015.
During a 2014 Red Cross and Red Crescent mission, she saw Arabs and Jews volunteering side-by-side in Israel. Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers risked their lives under fire to provide first aid and transport the sick and wounded to hospitals.
At home and abroad, she met many grateful recipients of previous Red Cross aid helping the newest disaster survivors.
鈥淢any Red Cross volunteers are people in minimum wage jobs who could be using their time to work a second or third job to make more money for their own families. Instead they鈥檙e out there volunteering 12 to 20 hours a week helping out other disaster victims,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hen you see how many people are like that, it鈥檚 inspiring.
鈥淚t takes a lot of courage and strength to live those humanitarian principles.鈥
Team Diplomacy
Zimmerman most recently served as executive director of The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). ARCE represents more than 40 research institutes and 1,100 members exploring Egypt鈥檚 history and cultural heritage.
She was based in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband, John, who shares her passion for cultural heritage and serves as a historical interpreter at George Washington鈥檚 Mount Vernon.
They鈥檒l keep their home there and take turns driving to see each other. Along the way, they鈥檒l drive past -- (and if invited stop) -- in Blacksburg, Virginia, where their son, Jack, will be a first-year engineering student at Virginia Tech.
Pepper, the family dog, will likely divide her time between 皇家华人 and Washington.
Pepper is a diplomat herself: She and Zimmerman volunteer as a therapy dog team. They regularly visit hospital patients, domestic violence survivors and incarcerated juveniles.
鈥淚 love seeing and meeting people through her eyes,鈥 Zimmerman said. 鈥淧epper the Dog doesn鈥檛 judge. Everybody is equal. She is so sweet, she doesn鈥檛 do any tricks, she just gives and receives love.鈥
Fortunately, Pepper enjoys long car rides.
鈥淪he鈥檚 very Zen,鈥 Zimmerman said. 鈥淧robably the hardest adjustment will be for my husband, who鈥檚 about to send his wife and son off to college at the same time.鈥