Drake names Terry Branstad ambassador-in-residence, plans annual symposium on U.S.-China relations

Terry Branstad, former U.S. ambassador to China and the longest-serving governor in both Iowa and U.S. history, is taking on a new role as ambassador-in-residence at Drake University.

Drake President Marty Martin announced the program Wednesday. In his new role, Branstad is regularly meeting with students and faculty and will periodically deliver lectures. Beginning next fall, he also will host an annual symposium, bringing to campus "high-ranking government officials and thought leaders" to discuss U.S. relations with China, according to a news release.

"Can you imagine sitting in a class with the longest-serving governor in the history of these United States, as well as an ambassador to China, and just asking those questions that will come to mind based upon that experience? What an invaluable experience our students are going to have," Martin said in his announcement.

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Branstad has a 50-year relationship with Drake, the capital city's largest university. He was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1972 while in his second year at the Drake University Law School.

He used the university's colors, blue and white, in all three of his campaigns for the Iowa House, and met his wife, Christine, on a blind date to a Drake football game.

Branstad later went on to serve as Iowa's lieutenant governor and was governor for 22 years until he left office to serve as ambassador to China under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020.

He has a long-standing relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two first met in 1985 when Xi, then a provincial party official, spent two weeks in Muscatine as part of a Chinese delegation looking into farming technology. Before Branstad's term in Beijing, they reunited in 2012 when Xi, who had ascended to his country's vice presidency, made a swing back through Iowa during a state visit.

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The former governor will draw on his long career in public service at the state, national and international levels to work with students, whom he said he intends to meet with weekly. Students will be able to ask questions on diplomacy, law, public policy — anything they want to discuss. He also intends to deliver guest lectures a few times each semester.

Branstad said he met with students in a human rights law class on Tuesday, during which they discussed a wide range of issues related to human rights in the U.S. and abroad. He meets again with another class Thursday.

"When women are denied the opportunity to go to school in Afghanistan, or Uyghurs are denied their religion or their culture in Xinjiang, China, or if the people in Hong Kong no longer have freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, that's a concern," Branstad said. " ... That's a tragic situation, but we consider it to be universal human rights. So those were issues that we talked yesterday about.

"Whether it's, you know, state government or whether it's foreign policy or my experiences in China, I want to share with them," he said.

Branstad, who turned 75 Wednesday, said he intends to partner with Drake for as long as he is healthy and able.

In addition to his work with students, he will donate records from his political career to Drake. They'll be part a bipartisan political archive that includes the records of former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, former Iowa Rep. Wayne Ford and the late U.S. Rep. Neal Smith, all Democrats, as well as late Gov. Robert D. Ray, a Republican.

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The partnership with Branstad builds on Drake's plan to create a Center for Public Democracy, bringing together its existing civics-focused departments like the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Vote Smart and The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center for a common cause of "helping us reclaim the project of forming a more perfect union," Martin previously told the Register. Support for the effort is among the goals of Drake's $225 million capital campaign, which publicly kicked off last month.

"Governor Branstad's role as ambassador in residence is going to be a great complement to that center," Martin said.

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259. Follow her on Twitter @KimNorvellDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Terry Branstad named ambassador-in-resident at Drake University