Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Christina Higgins joined the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa in August 2021. Previously, she served as Chargé d’affaires a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti, working closely on counter-terrorism efforts with military colleagues stationed at Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent U.S. military installation in Africa. In the field of public affairs, she supported U.S. embassies throughout Europe as the U.S. Department of State acting Director for Public Affairs in Europe and Eurasia and U.S. embassies in Africa as the Director for African Affairs in the former Bureau of International Information Programs. She has served in various public affairs roles in Germany, France, Angola, Senegal and Jerusalem.
Prior to joining the U.S. diplomatic corps, she worked at the U.S. Department of Education and in public schools teaching teenagers about the joys of learning French, and German.
Christina has a Master’s degree in National Security Studies from the National Defense University’s National War College in Washington D.C. and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, New York. She is a proud badger of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She speaks fluent German, French, and Swedish. Along with her work duties, Christina stays busy raising her three sons.