Updated: Jan. 24, 2025, at 12:30 p.m.
A professor of international affairs and the former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security dove into her career experiences and paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the Elliott School of International Affairs on Tuesday.
Bonnie Jenkins served as the undersecretary of state for arms control from July 2021 to December 2024 in President Joe Biden’s administration. Jenkins was the first Black person and the fifth woman to serve in the position.
Chris Kojm, a professor of international affairs, introduced Jenkins and said she previously taught in the security policy studies field as an adjunct at GW and that she has returned to the school as a full-time faculty member as of January 1. He said she will teach both undergraduate and graduate courses on nonproliferation, the effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and arms control.
Jenkins said her educational and career paths have been influenced by a few key decisions she made when faced with a crossroads where she had to make a decision. She said there are often a few “turning points” in people’s lives as they are affected in a deep way by mentors who influence them or by specific educational or career choices people make when facing a “fork” in the proverbial road.
Jenkins said for her, a “turning point” came from an internship she did during her early college years at a New York District Court, where she was mentored by a prosecutor.
“I think the reason – one of the reasons – I ended up going to law school was because I was so impressed by that and watching her,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins spoke about entering the security field, first starting in city and then state governments in New York City and New York respectively, making her way up to work in the Obama administration and finally under the Biden administration. She answered questions from the audience about her experiences in the discipline.
In response to a question about how she has overcome roadblocks, Jenkins said it’s important to not be deterred by them and that as a Black woman in the security field she has faced systemic barriers but that she would “run through” them and did not let them stop her.
“I tend to run through roadblocks,” Jenkins said.
She said perseverance can be the foundation to reaching a career goal and a deep commitment to continue trying will help to break down roadblocks. Jenkins said it’s necessary to approach obstacles from all angles.
“If something doesn’t work, you don’t want it to be because you did not make every effort to try to make it happen,” Jenkins said.
As she took questions from the audience, Jenkins shared some of her favorite quotes from King, and she highlighted how his leadership has inspired her approach to her career. She shared his quote, “The time is alway right to do what is right,” and said she found it compelling when considering being a mentor herself.
“I think about my career and all the people that I have looked up to and all the people who I tried to emulate, some who I knew, some who I didn’t know,” Jenkins said.
She said people can’t always know how much others are looking up to them in the professional world.
“You never know, you never know who’s looking at you. So it’s always good — important — to do the right thing,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins closed the event by encouraging students to pursue a field in diplomacy. She said heightened global tensions mean the world needs more people in diplomacy not less, and she emphasized that the real value in this work comes from talking with adversaries.
“It’s sitting down with Russia, sitting down with Syria, sitting down with China — those are hard things — that’s what I think about, and the real value of diplomacy is,” Jenkins said. “And if you like that – and I think that’s, that’s where the rubber hits the road – then you should definitely continue to do it, because we’re always going to continue to need to talk to the countries, that’s never going to change.”
This post has been updated to correct the following:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that Bonnie Jenkins was the first woman to serve as the undersecretary of state for arms control. She was the fifth woman to serve in the position. We regret this error.