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Name: Jacobs, Janice
Current Position: Former Assistant Secretary

 President George W. Bush sent his nomination for Janice L. Jacobs to become Assistant Secretary of State to the Senate on April 2, 2008. Jacobs received a BA in French and Education from Southern Illinois University in 1968. Then from 1968 to 1969 she worked as an assembly line worker for Magnavox in Champaign, Illinois, and in the Admissions Office at the University of Illinois. From 1969 to 1970 she taught French and Spanish at Edison Jr. High in Champaign. At this point, her husband joined the Foreign Service, and she accompanied him on tours to Ecuador, Egypt, and Mexico, working in a variety of jobs, including at the World Bank, NAFSA (an association of international educators), and as a substitute teacher at various international schools overseas. In 1978 Jacobs was hired by the Department of State as an Eligible Family Member, and worked in the consular sections at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and Merida, Mexico. She formally joined the Foreign Service in March 1980, and from 1980 through 1981 she was assigned to Lagos, Nigeria. From the summer of 1982 to summer 1983 her assignment took her to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and from 1983 to 1985 she served in Paris. Then she took a year of paid leave to join her new husband in Miami, and attended Florida International University.

 
From 1987 to 1990, Jacobs was Chief of the Coordination Divisions in the Visa Office of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, and from 1990 to 1991 she served in the State Department Operations Center as a Senior Watch Officer. From 1991 to 1994, Jacobs served as the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico. From 1994 to 1995 she attended the National War College at Ft. McNair in Washington D.C., where she received a Master’s in National Security Strategy. From 1995 to 1998, Jacobs was Deputy Director of the Office of Cuban Affairs, and from 1998 to 2000 she served as the Director of the Office of Field Support and Liaison at the Visa Office of the Bureau of Consular Affairs. From 2000 to 2002 Jacobs was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and from 2002 to 2005, she returned to the Bureau of Consular Affairs as Deputy Assistant Director for Visa Services. From 2006 through July 2007, Jacobs served as Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, and from August 2007 to March, 2008, she was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Consular Affairs, after which she was elevated to the position of Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs.
 
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