US Consul General Kathryn Porter visited University of Glasgow providing insights into her work.
On 23 February, Kathryn Porter, the Consul General of the Edinburgh United States Consulate, visited The University of Glasgow’s campus to speak at an event hosted by the International Relations Society and co-sponsored by the American and British Society and the International Law Society. The event was in two parts, starting with Consul General Porter delivering opening remarks about her background and the process required to become a US foreign service officer and ending with a Q&A presented by International Relations Society Vice President Mia Wynn.
Consul General Porter spoke candidly about her career journey. While initially hoping for her first foreign service placement to be in a Middle Eastern country, she began in Tijuana, Mexico, an experience she cherishes, and before the Edinburgh consulate, she was positioned in Moscow when the invasion of Ukraine broke out. Moving from place to place every 1 to 3 years, her diplomatic work involves quick cultural adjustment for her and her family. As a self-proclaimed voracious reader who averages 100 books a year, she prepares herself through extensive research.
Even though her studies involved a Political Science major and Model Arab League, Consul General Porter alleviated any fears for hopeful foreign service officers studying outside of those fields by sharing, “When it comes to the foreign service, to be honest, your major doesn’t matter. I do have to admit that probably the majority of foreign service generalists do tend to come from history, political science, IR. We have a lot of former journalists, as media has changed…We have a lot of what I call recovering lawyers. [Those who] we went to law school, started practising law and realised it wasn’t for them. Because diplomacy in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to consular work and some of the others, it’s very similar”. She went on to add that her predecessor at the Consulate was a theatre major and that a previous colleague and mentor of hers had gone to medical school before switching to diplomatic work.
She later mentioned that international students have an even greater advantage for entering foreign service, “I think especially for international students who have already gone internationally, you’re halfway there. You’re used to living abroad, you’re used to being in new environments, kind of finding new feet. And that’s a big part of it”.
Regarding her consular work in Edinburgh, in this time of global uncertainty and increased tensions among world powers, Consul General Porter and her team work as a unifying force on a local level. This is reflected in the diversity of the staff, which Executive Assistant at the Consulate, Rona Campbell, commented on, “It’s a nice combination of some local Scottish people and some local Americans who live there as well, but I’ve been really lucky that the foreign service officers have all been great who have worked there”.
Working in the Consulate made Consul General Porter realise the deeper connection between the countries, as the native Alabamian noted the cultural similarities found in the American South and Scotland due to a high concentration of Appalachians sharing Scots-Irish heritage, friendliness, and love of fried food.
Other praise she lauded onto Scotland was the quality of education, “I think Scotland is a university country. Um, you know, there are so many large world-renowned universities here in Scotland, University of Glasgow, as one of them”. Then, Consul General Porter offered some advice to international students experiencing homesickness, “I know it sounds really cheesy, but just find something here that gives you joy…look for something that’s very specific to here to kind of remind you why you came here”.
Image source: US Mission United Kingdom
