James A. Joseph
Professor of the Practice, Public Policy Studies

James A. Joseph, the former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, is now helping emerging leaders in southern Africa through a joint appointment at Duke University and the University of Cape Town.

At Duke he is Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Studies at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and Leader-in-Residence at the Hart Leadership Program. He teaches a course on leadership and public values.

Joseph has also launched the U.S. - Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values, which is based in Durham and in Cape Town. The center works in partnership with Duke's Sanford Institute and the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business to help emerging leaders in southern Africa contribute to the development and reconstruction of their countries and the region. There is also an emphasis on forging links between independent sector groups in South Africa and the United States, and to contributing to the public discussion of ethics in public life.

Joseph served as ambassador to South Africa from January 1996 to November 1999, and was the first and only U.S. ambassador to present his credentials to President Nelson Mandela. In recognition of Joseph's contributions, South African President Thabo Mbeki awarded him the Order of Good Hope, the highest honor the Republic of South Africa bestows on a citizen of another country.

Before serving in South Africa, Joseph was the first chairman of the board of directors of President Clinton's Corporation for National Service. He also has served three other U.S. presidents: as Interior undersecretary and chairman of the presidentially appointed Commission on the Northern Mariannas under President Carter; as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Agency for International Development under President Reagan; and as an incorporating director of the Points of Light Foundation and a member of the Presidential Commission on Historically Black Colleges under President Bush.

Joseph also was president and chief executive officer of the Council on Foundations from 1982-95, undersecretary of the Department of Interior from 1977-81, and a vice president of Cummins Engine Co. and president of the Cummins Engine Foundation from 1971-76.

A Louisiana native who has served on a number of boards, Joseph is the recipient of many honorary degrees, and is a former civil rights activist in Alabama. He is the author of two books, The Charitable Impulse (1989) and Remaking America (1995), and is now at work on a book that focuses on ethics in public life. He has taught at Yale Divinity School and the Claremont Colleges, where he was university chaplain.