Ambassador James Creagan

Serving under nine U.S. presidents, Ambassador Creagan began his career at the Agency for International Development under President Kennedy and was appointed to the Foreign Service by President Lyndon B. Johnson. During a diplomatic career spanning three decades, he held positions as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Ambassador to Italy and, separately, the Holy See; Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Political Counselor in Brasilia and Portugal; U.S. Consul in Naples, Italy; political/labor officer in U.S. Embassies in Lima, Mexico City, San Salvador and Rome. He was named U.S. Ambassador to Honduras by President Clinton in 1996. In 2009, under President Obama, Ambassador Creagan served as Chargé d’Affaires to Bolivia and Chief of the U.S. Mission there. In November 2009, he was an International Observer for presidential elections in Honduras. Creagan retired from the Foreign Service in 1999, and became president of John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Under his leadership the university more than doubled its enrollment, and it achieved American accreditation. In August 2005, he was appointed President Emeritus upon retirement. He was a Guest Scholar at the Kellogg Institute of the University of Notre Dame in fall 2005. In January 2006 Ambassador Creagan joined the University of the Incarnate Word as Ambassador in Residence and professor of International Affairs. In January 2016, Ambassador Creagan was named the Ambassador Eugene Scassa Visiting Professor of International Diplomacy at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. Ambassador Creagan graduated from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He was a professor of political science at Texas A&M and is a visiting professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Ambassador Creagan speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.