Political Science and history alumna makes international impact with career as ambassador

Jane Coon ’51 attended The College of Wooster at a time when, as she says, “women expected to be married as soon after college as possible” and women’s roles were limited. However, Coon did not allow these expectations to stop her, majoring in political science and history before launching a career with worldwide impact. She joined the U.S. Department of State, working in India and Pakistan, before she was nominated by President Ronald Reagan as the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh.

As a student at Wooster, Coon’s educational experiences were shaped by several women professors who taught her about the possibilities for women in the workforce and inspired her to major in political science and history. Both departments were headed by women in Coon’s time at Wooster, with Aileen Dunham as chair of history and Mary Z. Johnson as chair of political science. “The term ‘role model’ hadn’t been invented then, but these two professors were just that,” Coon said. “Apart from gender, they were both great teachers who opened intellectual windows while maintaining exacting standards. There were a surprising number of outstanding women professors, including department heads, and this had a profound impact on me.”

After graduation, Coon recalls her career options being limited due to her gender. “Despite being a political science and history major and an honor student, it literally never occurred to me that law school was an option,” she explained. “Graduate school was possible, but admission was tougher for a woman, especially if you needed financial help.” With Johnson’s advice and encouragement, Coon took a civil service examination, ultimately launching her career with the Department of State in foreign service.

Coon began her career as a foreign affairs officer in the State Department after her graduation from Wooster, then soon became a foreign service officer, formulating and implementing foreign policy in Pakistan and India. In 1976, she took on the position of international relations officer in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. From 1977 to 1979, she was Director of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Affairs, and from 1971 to 1981 was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Coon to the position of United States Ambassador to Bangladesh; at the time, she was one of only a few female ambassadors representing the U.S. abroad. But even as the numbers were not on her side, she remained confident. As she stated in an interview with The Wooster Voice student newspaper in 1983, “First and foremost, I am the American ambassador, not the woman ambassador.” Coon added that her senior year at Wooster, she had been a delegate to the four-college, mock UN Assembly, held that year at Oberlin, and thirty years later in Dhaka, her first chat was with the German Ambassador, an Oberlin alumnus who participated in the same event. “All those years later, in real life diplomacy, he helped smooth the way for me in Dhaka with my diplomatic colleagues,” Coon said. “Extra-curricular activities pay off too!”

As ambassador to Bangladesh, Coon’s career consisted of maintaining diplomatic relations with the country and carrying out America’s foreign policy goals. According to an oral history interview Coon conducted with the Library of Congress in 1986, she found that the most important part of her job was providing aid to the country as it was establishing itself as an independent nation, ranging from efforts to encourage agricultural development to reducing infant and child mortality. “The totality of our aid ran to perhaps $180 million, about half of it development assistance and about half food aid. Some years it ran over $200 million,” Coon explained in the interview with the Library of Congress.

Coon returned to Wooster’s campus in 1983 to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the Convocation of the 1983-1984 academic year. During her time at the College for Convocation, she took the time to talk to several students about her experiences both at Wooster and in the foreign service. Even if a student does not remember the specific information they learned in classes, she said that the skills people learn with a liberal arts education remain relevant regardless of a chosen career. “Writing—that’s the key. If you can’t write it, forget it!” she said.

Featured image: Jane Coon ’51, photo provided by the subject.

Posted in Alumni, Magazine on June 24, 2025.