Mattie R. Sharpless, an alumna who served as a U.S. ambassador in Africa, visited campus on November 18 to talk to a political science class, sorority and met with NCCU officials.
Her visit was coordinated by the NCCU Office of International Affairs on the occasion of International Education Week.
Sharpless spent her 41-year career in the U.S. Foreign Services and held postings in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Italy. Her career was in the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the international arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that promotes the sale of U.S. agricultural products and combats hunger. She directed the FAS for six years, overseeing 1,000 employees and a $100 million budget.
Though she rose to the rank of ambassador, her early years were humble. She was raised in Hampstead, North Carolina, a farming community in the eastern part of the state.
One of nine children, her father died when she was 11, and her mother raised her siblings doing domestic work.
“We all started working very young,” Sharpless said. “Picking cotton, blueberries, tobacco and string beans. Then I got a good job: washing dishes in a restaurant.”
Elementary school took place in a single room that held six grades with one teacher. There was no electricity, water or heat. Schools were segregated.
In her senior year of high school, the principal sought her out and said she should attend college. “It was $600 tuition but that was a whole lot of money,” she said.
The principal visited her mother and explained how North Carolina offered state grants. Between the grants, and earnings from Sharpless and her mother, she was able to attend North Carolina Central University (NCCU).
She earned a bachelor’s degree in business education from the then-named North Carolina College in 1965 and returned to earn a master’s degree in business administration and economics in 1972.
In the FAS, she held postings in Europe and took part in international trade negotiations starting with the U.S. Mission to the Kennedy Round Trade Negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland in 1967. She was frequently the only African American in the room.
“I was in the FAS and had studied French and served with the USDA delegation in Switzerland,” Sharpless said. “Every time a post became available, I was equipped with the languages and capabilities. I acquired more and more.”
In 2001, she was appointed U.S. ambassador to the Central African Republic by then-president George W. Bush.
“I really enjoyed going out to the villages and meeting elected officials from those areas,” Sharpless said. “When I traveled, I took supplies. The schools would ask for basics, like pencils, paper or erasers.”
She served as ambassador for 18 months and would have been there longer but an attempted coup d’état took place in November 2003 and U.S. government officials were evacuated first to Cameroon and then back to Washington D.C.
Sharpless retired in 2006 but has remained active, serving on the board of directors of numerous organizations as the American Academy of Diplomacy, Association of Black American Ambassadors and as senior advisor of the International Development program at the Aspen Institute.
She also serves as senior advisor with Black Professionals in International Affairs and cites the importance of international education.
“International education is more critically important for U.S. and world leaders today, especially with so much political disruption, global circulation of disinformation, wars in many countries, extreme poverty, humanitarian crises and pandemics around the globe,” Sharpless said.
A lifelong learner who was always gaining or improving her skills over the decades, Sharpless credits NCCU with having a major impact on her career.
“All of my educational background is anchored right here at NCCU,” Sharpless said. “Whatever I did, I look back to the School of Business.”
