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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 12, 1995

               PRESIDENT NAMES JAMES FRANKLIN COLLINS AS 
     AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE SECRETARY FOR 
                      THE NEW INDEPENDENT STATES

     The President today announced his intention to nominate James

Franklin Collins, of Illinois, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor to the Secretary for the New Independent States.

Mr. Collins currently serves as Senior Coordinator, Office of the Ambassador-at-Large for the New Independent States in the Department of State. From October 1990 to November 1993, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Moscow. Prior to his Moscow tour, Mr. Collins held management positions with the Department of State in Washington and worked extensively on Russian/Soviet and on Middle East affairs. In addition to one other posting in Moscow, he served as Political Counselor in Amman, Jordan and as Vice Consul in Izmir, Turkey. His Washington assignments have included tours on the staff of the Secretary of State as Deputy Executive Secretary for Europe and Latin America and as Director of the State Department's Operations Center. He has served also as a member of the National Security Council staff as Director of Intelligence Policy, and held positions in the Department of State in the Bureau of European Affairs and Bureau of Near East and South Asian Affairs and Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Mr. Collins holds Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State. He was awarded the Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service in January 1993 and the Department's Distinguished Honor Award in October 1993.

Before joining the Department of State, Mr. Collins taught Russian and European History at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He holds an A.B. degree from Harvard University (1961) and an M.A. from Indiana University (1964). In addition, he has conducted research as an exchange fellow at Moscow University in 1965 and at the British Museum in London in 1966. Mr. Collins has been married for 32 years to Dr. Naomi F. Collins, presently Executive Director of the National Association of International Educators (NAFSA). They have two grown sons, Robert and Jonathan.

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