A former Lawrence University government major has been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotenciary of Mexico to the Republic of the Phillippines, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Julio Camarena-Villaseñor, who graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence in 1981, was recently named to the ambassador post by President Enrique Peña Nieto after serving the past six years as Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Management in the government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he oversaw 149 offices world-wide, including 75 embassies, 66 consulates and five missions to international organizations as well as a staff of 7,000.
A native of Mexico City, Camarena-Villaseñor has spent the past 30 years in public service. Two years after graduating from Lawrence, he began a distinguished career as an advisor on international affairs to Mexico’s Secretary Of Finance, Jesus Silva-Herzog.
Camarena-Villaseñor also held various leadership posts in the United Nations from 1986-2006, including director of the division of planning and human resources management for the Food and Agriculture Organization in Vienna, Austria, and chief of inter-agency policy and the common system in the Department of Management for the United Nations Secretariat in New York City.
With his appointment, Camarena-Villaseñor joins an ever-growing number of Lawrence alumni who have been appointed ambassadors. The list includes:
• Shaun Donnelly ’68 (Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives, 1997-2000)
• Takakazu Kuriyama ’55 (Japan’s Ambassador to the United States, 1992-96)
• David Mulford ’59 (India, 2004-09)
• Christopher Murray, ’75 (Republic of Congo, 2010-present)
• Walter North ’72 (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the Republic of Vanuatu, 2012-present).
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.
