Diplomacy Week spotlights return of star graduate

In October 2024, Emma Sampson ’25 helped organize Diplomacy Week at UNC-Chapel Hill.

This year, the 2025 Charles B. Rangel Fellow and graduate student at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies headlined two Diplomacy Week events, leading discussions on critical minerals and careers in global affairs.

“Emma’s intellectual curiosity and determination to better understand policy challenges related to critical minerals made her the obvious choice to pilot this new Diplomacy Week event,” said Barbara Stephenson, Carolina’s vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer.

Stephenson also founded the Diplomacy Initiative. “There is a bit of Emma in every part of the Diplomacy Initiative, so it is fitting that she was our first alum to return to Chapel Hill to share her expertise in this highly engaging manner.”

Launching a global journey

Sampson, from Apex, North Carolina, began her Carolina experience at the Universidad de Granada in Spain, spending her first semester abroad as a Carolina Global Launch student.

Living with a host family who spoke no English, Sampson quickly adapted to a new culture and language. The experience sparked her curiosity about the world, strengthened her resilience, and solidified her interest in diplomacy and global studies.

“Freshman year, coming back after studying abroad, I didn’t really know where my place was,” she recalled. “That version of me would be so happy — and surprised — to see where I am now.”

Back in Chapel Hill after her Global Launch, Sampson plunged into international studies and activities. She double-majored in public policy and global studies, joined the inaugural cohort of Carolina Diplomacy Fellows and became the first student ambassador for the Diplomacy Initiative. Sampson mentored peers, networked with visiting diplomats and gained hands-on experience organizing high-profile speaker events.

In May 2024, she participated in the UNC-Nagoya cybersecurity exchange, a program connecting Carolina students with peers from Nagoya University in Japan to explore cybersecurity through policy, technology and diplomacy.

“Her academic excellence, leadership and genuine commitment to public service made a lasting impact on our campus,” said Ted Leinbaugh, associate professor of English composition and literature and faculty adviser for the Carolina Forum for Education and Diplomacy, where Sampson served as secretary.

Charting a path to the Foreign Service

As a Rangel Fellow, Sampson is part of a nationally competitive program that supports future U.S. Foreign Service Officers through graduate study and professional development. She credits Carolina, and the Diplomacy Initiative in particular, for helping her discover this path.

“I really built my Carolina experience around this goal,” she said. “The Diplomacy Initiative showed me what a career in diplomacy could look like and gave me the confidence to pursue it.”

Over the summer, she worked with the Atlantic Council on global energy issues, publishing a piece on cyber, natural disaster and physical threats to Guam’s power grid. At Johns Hopkins, she’s focusing on technology and innovation in China, building on the policy work from her time at Carolina and courses that first drew her to critical minerals.

Returning to Carolina for Diplomacy Week, Sampson spoke about the importance of critical minerals, the role of diplomacy in securing them and potential policy solutions. The discussion also served as a primer for the Nov. 4 talk by Indonesian official Septian Hario Seto, which explored how critical minerals can drive sustainable development and global partnerships.

Sampson led another session on global careers, reflecting on her own path.

“As a child, she was constantly reading atlases and curious about the world,” said her mother, Sheri Sampson. “It was no surprise that this is the career path Emma chose. We are very proud of her.”