Biden Taps UC Santa Cruz Grad For Ambassadorship

SANTA CRUZ, CA — President Joe Biden nominated a University of California, Santa Cruz graduate to serve as ambassador to Madagascar and the Comoros, pending Senate confirmation.

Claire A. Pierangelo graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in history, according to her LinkedIn profile. Pierangelo currently serves as principal officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, Nigeria.

She also served as an assistant professor at the National Defense University, as director of the State Department Bureau of Human Resources' Office of Performance Evaluation and as deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, according to a statement from the White House. Pierangelo worked a variety of other roles with the federal government.

She holds master's degrees from National Defense University and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

Pierangelo speaks French, Indonesian, Italian and Vietnamese.

The announcement came last month as Biden continued to tap nominees for significant roles in his administration.

He also announced two other nominees with roots in the South Bay: Bathsheba Nell Crocker, who holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and was nominated to an ambassador-level position in Geneva, and Fagan Harris, who holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford and was nominated to serve as an AmeriCorps board member.