Swanee Hunt

Swanee Grace Hunt (born May 1, 1950) is an American writer, academic, and former diplomat.

Hunt is a lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and was the founding director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School. From 1993 to 1997, she served as United States Ambassador to Austria. She is a recipient of the PEN/New England Award for non-fiction.

Early life Hunt was born May 1, 1950, in Dallas, Texas, the youngest of four children born to the oil tycoon H.L. Hunt and Ruth Ray. However, not until her father's first wife died did Swanee Hunt's parents marry in 1957 and it was only then that she and her siblings moved into the Hunt mansion, built to resemble its namesake, Mount Vernon.

Hunt grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she attended the Hockaday School. She lived for many years in Denver, Colorado, where she was active in many community and philanthropic activities. Her several siblings include sisters Helen LaKelly Hunt and June Hunt.

Education While Hunt had hoped to attend college in the east, her ultra-conservative father refused, so Hunt began college in her hometown at Southern Methodist University.

Career Hunt was appointed in 1993 as ambassador to Austria, where she was notable for writing a weekly newspaper column and radio program.

In 1997, Hunt helped establish the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Since stepping down as Director of the Program in 2008, she has continued on at the Kennedy School as the Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy. and includes a foreword by former president Bill Clinton.