Dorothy M. Sampas

Dorothy Myers Sampas (born 1933) is a retired American diplomat. She was the U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania from 1994 to 1997.

Life and career Dorothy Sampas was born in 1933 in Washington, D.C. She was educated at the University of Michigan and the University of Paris. She received her PhD from Georgetown University in 1970.

Sampas joined the State Department in 1957 after passing the Foreign Service exam. She also received a certificate from the Defense Resources Management Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Sampas was appointed to be the U.S. ambassador to Mauritania on August 26, 1994. She was the first woman in this position. One of Sampas's main points of focus during her tenure was human rights and slavery. USAID, USIA, and the Marines were pulling out of Mauritania, leaving Sampas with very few officers working in the embassy in Nouakchott. She was also a member of the Cosmos Club. In 2017, Sampas was awarded the Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievement Award.