The lecture is free and open to the public.
Barnes, who joined the State Department in 1983, develops and coordinates policy and relations with France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta and the Vatican. She has held U.S. diplomatic posts in Egypt, Senegal, Germany, Bulgaria and France. Previously, she was an advertising executive and international marketing consultant in New York City, a program assistant for the Ford Foundation at the National School of Law and Administration in Zaire, and program director for the Women's Africa Committee at the African American Institute in New York City.
Barnes is a graduate of Boston University, with a master's degree from Columbia University. She also completed a certificate at the National War College.
The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture at Knox College is sponsored by the College's Office of Intercultural Life and Committee on Religious Life, to coincide with the national celebration of King's birthday.
Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college, located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.
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