Mediterranean Talks: In Conversation with Stephanie Williams
Luiss University, 09/06/2025
Luiss University, Viale Pola, Aula 12
9 June 2025, 17:00 – 19:00 CET
We are honored to host Stephanie Turco Williams, U.S. diplomat and former senior UN official, for our final Mediterranean Talk of the academic year.
In a one-to-one interview with Il Foglio journalist Luca Gambardella, Stephanie Williams will discuss her newly released book, Libya Since Qaddafi: Chaos and the Search for Peace (Hurst Publishers), which offers a firsthand account of Libya’s turbulent transition and the ongoing search for sustainable peace.
Drawing on her leadership of the UN-backed Libyan Political Dialogue Forum and her broader diplomatic service in Iraq, Jordan, and Bahrain, Ms. Williams will share unique insights into the region’s recent history, the complexities of multilateral mediation, and the lessons learned for future peacebuilding. The event will be an opportunity for an interactive discussion on diplomacy, mediation, and conflict resolution in the Middle East and North Africa.
Ms. Stephanie T. Williams has extensive experience in diplomacy and foreign security policy, both internationally and in her own country. She previously served as Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) (2020-2021), and as Deputy Special Representative (Political) of UNSMIL (2018-2020). A member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counsellor, Ms. Williams took up her duties as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. for the Libya External Office (Tunis) in 2018.
She graduated with honours from the University of Maryland in 1987 with a double degree in Economics and Government Relations. In 1989, she earned a Master’s Degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. She is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, where she earned a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies in 2008. She is fluent in English and Arabic.
