GMF - The German Marshall Fund of the United States - Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation

WASHINGTON (May 4, 2009) - Constanze Stelzenmüller, the Berlin office director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), will become a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at GMF. In her new capacity Stelzenmüller will work on a broad spectrum of foreign and security policy issues.

Stelzenmüller served as director of GMF's Berlin office for four years, in which she turned the office into a prolific convener on current events, attracting speakers from the United States and Europe to address the Berlin policy community. Prior to that appointment, she was defense and security editor for the influential German weekly Die Zeit. She continues to be a prolific writer on a host of foreign policy issues.

"GMF will greatly benefit from Constanze's ability to study issues across the spectrum of transatlantic issues, from defense and security to emerging issues like the rise of India," said GMF President Craig Kennedy.  "We are grateful for her service as office director in Berlin, but we want her to have the time to explore her considerable writing and researching talents."

As defense and security editor at Die Zeit from 1998-2005, Stelzenmüller focused on European and international security topics-many with a transatlantic focus-including Kosovo, European security and defense policy, German foreign policy, NATO, terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, and U.S.-German relations.  She joined Die Zeit in1994, to write about human rights, refugee crises, and the UN.

Stelzenmüller earned a doctorate in law from Bonn University's Institute of Public International Law and holds a master's degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Additionally, Stelzenmüller has been a Remarque Fellow at New York University, a GMF Campus Fellow at Grinnell College, and a Woodrow Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar in Washington, DC.

The Berlin office was GMF's first European office. It serves as the headquarters for GMF's Immigration and Integration program. In addition, the office works on several GMF exchange programs-including those between Germany and the U.S.-and seminars and projects surrounding security and the EU constitution. GMF's original German office was in Bonn, but after the Berlin Wall fell, GMF became the first western organization to move its office into the former East Berlin. Senior Director for Europe Heike MacKerron will fill in as Berlin office director until a replacement has been found.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States is a nonpartisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between North America and Europe. GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working on transatlantic issues, by convening leaders to discuss the most pressing transatlantic themes, and by examining ways in which transatlantic cooperation can address a variety of global policy challenges. In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies. Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany on the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has seven offices in Europe: Berlin, Bratislava, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, and Bucharest.

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