Global Café: Coffee with a Diplomat will take place 2-3 p.m. April 27 in Oldfather Hall, room 827.
The United States Department of State is looking for people who are interested in foreign service or diplomacy and has different internship and career paths available. Both diplomats hail from Nebraska and are excited to encourage University of Nebraska–Lincoln students to pursue this exciting career path.
Originally from Nebraska, Kyle Rohrich and Courtney Gaul have long careers with Department of State. As experts focused on Eastern Europe and Russia, they will also discuss the current conflict in Ukraine and its implications on U.S. national security.
Rohrich serves as a political officer in the State Department’s Office of Russia Affairs, where he covers Russia’s relations with countries in Europe and Central Asia. A career Foreign Service Officer, he previously served as Russia Watcher in Embassy London, where he worked to align U.S.-UK efforts to deter and respond to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Rohrich has also served as an economic and commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan and as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. He holds a master’s in law and diplomacy from Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University. He grew up in Pierce, Nebraska, and speaks Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Azerbaijani and Kyrgyz.
Gaul is a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Office of Eastern European Affairs, where she has served as the senior Ukraine desk officer covering conflict diplomacy since 2020. Previously, she served on the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs’ NATO desk, and in the Office of Central Asian Affairs as coordinator for the C5+1 diplomatic platform and as desk officer for the Republic of Tajikistan. She has also served long-term temporary tours of duty in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Gaul received her master’s from George Washington University in International Science and Technology Policy and her bachelor’s in Russian language from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska and speaks Russian and French.
