European Union ambassador visit to be rescheduled at WVU

*This event has been canceled due to the extreme weather conditions predicted for Thursday, Jan. 31. It will be rescheduled at a later date. 

David O’Sullivan, the ambassador of the European Union to the United States, will speak at West Virginia University on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. in the Milano Reading Room of the Downtown Campus Library. 

His lecture, entitled “Europe and the United States: A Relationship under Strain in a World of Crises,” is hosted by the Department of Political Science and the International Studies Program. The talk is free and open to the public.

Ambassador O’Sullivan has had a distinguished career spanning nearly 50 years, during which he has served in numerous senior official posts in the European public service. Prior to his appointment as E.U. ambassador to the U.S., he was responsible for establishing and acting as the chief operating officer of the European External Action Service, one of the largest diplomatic networks in the world, with 140 delegations across the globe.

His prior positions also include notable roles within the European Commission. O’Sullivan was responsible for overseeing the launch of several free trade agreements and concluded the E.U.’s agreement with South Korea. He began his career with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

O’Sullivan is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied Economics and Sociology. He completed post-graduate studies at the College of Europe, Bruges. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology and was awarded a second Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater Trinity College, Dublin. He has also been a visiting professor at the European College of Parma.