Langenkamp to Speak at OU-Tulsa on Afghanistan, Vietnam

Tulsa native Daniel Langenkamp, foreign service officer for the United States State Department, will visit the Tulsa campus for a luncheon from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 12, where he will discuss the future of Afghanistan. Langenkamp recently spent a tour of duty there with the U.S. State Department, and his comments are based on first hand observations of the Afghanistan situation. The luncheon will be held in the Faculty Lounge at OU-Tulsa, 41st and Yale. The cost is $10. The luncheon is being co-sponsored by the Tulsa Global Alliance.

For reservations, contact (918) 660-3434 or email randle@ou.edu.

An informal session on conducting business in Vietnam will be held from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. also in the Faculty Lounge at OU-Tulsa. Admittance is free, but a reservation is required.

According to Langenkamp, Vietnam is Asia’s emerging economic tiger. Langenkamp's insight into doing business in Vietnam will be useful for any company interested in expanding into that region of the world. This business briefing is co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce Global Business Services.

Langenkamp is a foreign service officer with the United States State Department.  In May, he finished a tour in the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he promoted a range of U.S. economic interests in preparation for Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization and an historic visit to Vietnam by President Bush in November 2006.

Prior to his tour in Hanoi, he was embedded for a year as a political officer in a civilian-military Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan, seeking to promote stability, speed reconstruction and extend the reach of the central government into three eastern provinces. 

He also has served in Washington working in the offices handling Afghanistan and NATO policy.  Before joining the State Department, Langenkamp was an aid worker and journalist serving in Hungary, the Balkans, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Budapest, Hungary from 1993 to 1995.

He is married to Sarah Debbink, a fellow Foreign Service Officer, and holds a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University and a Master's Degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1987 and speaks Hungarian, Vietnamese, and basic Spanish and French. Among his awards is the U.S. Army’s Superior Civilian Service Award, which he received for his work in Afghanistan.