McMurry University to host Michael T. Harvey from the U.S. State Department USAID Program in Iraq

Michael T. Harvey of the U.S. Department of State will be speaking at McMurry University at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21, at the Garrison Campus Center Mabee Room as part of the Hometown Diplomat Program.

Harvey will be addressing McMurry University and high school students on his experiences abroad, his work in Iraq, and the work of the U.S. State Department. He also will speak about careers in Foreign Service and student programs at the State Department.

Harvey was appointed Deputy Mission Director for USAID’s Mission in Iraq in August of 2006. A career Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Harvey was Deputy Mission Director to USAID’s Mission in Jordan from 2004 until his assignment began in Iraq. In Jordan, Mr. Harvey implemented one of USAID’s largest and most successful economic and political reform programs in the world; one which has been instrumental in establishing Jordan as the model for successful, prosperous, and pro-western Arab states in the Middle East.

From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Harvey was the USAID Representative to Tajikistan. In the wake of September 11th, Mr. Harvey led the dramatic expansion of the US assistance programs in Tajikistan in support of the Global War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan. Mr. Harvey served as the Deputy Director of the Program Office in the USAID Mission in Haiti (1995-2000). During this time, immediately after President Aristide’s return to the country in 1994, Mr. Harvey played a leading role in the design and management of one of USAID’s largest assistance portfolios in Latin America. He also served as the Director of the Office of Health and Nutrition where he managed the Food for Peace program, then the largest in Latin America.

During the early to mid 1990’s, Mr. Harvey served as the Director for USAID’s Office of Food for Peace’s operations in Ethiopia, a time immediately following the removal of the dictatorial regime controlled by Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mr. Harvey helped guide the phase out of what had been the world’s largest food aid program while transitioning the country to self-sustaining agricultural production. Prior to that assignment, Mr. Harvey was stationed in Washington working for USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, where he led U.S. relief efforts to the conflict-ridden Horn of Africa, as the Desk Officer for Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia. Before coming to USAID, Mr. Harvey worked in the Office of Press and Public Affairs for the White House.

Mr. Harvey earned his Master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin (1983), and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin (1981). Mr. Harvey has received numerous awards from the Department of State and USAID for exceptional service. Mr. Harvey was born in California to U.S. Air Force parents and he traveled extensively before making Texas his home. He and his wife have three children.