Retired senior foreign service officer Andrew Koss encouraged students to pursue a career as a foreign diplomat during a speech at the Korbel School of International Studies last Wednesday.

“I recommend a career in public diplomacy because it’s the perfect combination of foreign policy and creativity,” said Koss.  “It’s a chance to make a difference in the conduct of our country’s diplomatic affairs.”

About 40 students and faculty attended the event, which was the third part in Korbel’s 2012 Public Diplomacy Series.

The first two events included speeches by former CNN senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy and former Army Chief of Staff General George Casey.

According to Korbel’s website, the diplomacy series aims to bridge students with active practitioners of public diplomacy.

Christopher Hill, the dean of Korbel, invited Koss to speak. According to Koss, the two have been friends since they worked together in Poland in 2001.

“I was honored to be invited,” said Koss.

He started off his speech by expressing his gratitude for being invited to speak.

“The other speakers in this series are really impressive,” said Koss. “I have to say that my own career is a lot more prosaic. I don’t have quite the stature of the others.”

Koss said he wouldn’t trade in his career for anything.

“Most Americans, if given another chance, would do something else with their career,” he said. “But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

Koss said he worked in American embassies all around the world, including China, Poland, Canada and Singapore.

“I’ve found in my career that people think they know [foreigners] a lot better than they do,” he said. “What they need are people to give context. When you ask people [about Americans] they’ll tell you ‘Well, LeBron plays for the Heat,’ but they don’t really know what American culture is all about.”

Koss also played an audio clip from a National Public Radio story about an Indian-American comedy group called “Make Chai, Not War: Diplomacy with a Laugh.”

The clip discussed how the comedy group makes jokes about American and Indian stereotypes that push the lines of being politically incorrect.

“We can talk and talk about public diplomacy, but this is really the perfect example of it,” he said. “Public diplomacy doesn’t have to mean public policy.”

Koss said a large part of his job had to do with explaining what Americans are really like.

“At one point I found myself, a Jewish-American, trying to explain to thousands of Chinese television viewers the religious aspects of Christmas in America,” he said.

According to Koss, his job wasn’t full of whimsical stories like this. He said he witnessed the freedom demonstrations in China in 1989 and saw trucks shooting outside his window.

“And yet, taking that first public diplomacy appointment was the best decision of my life.” said Koss.

Koss said he recommends a career in public diplomacy.

“The job does come with some risk and requires a lot of creativity,” he said. “The state department really needs people with your kind of talent.”