• Practitioners in Residence

Clay Pell, S2017-S2018

Clay Pell served as a practitioner in residence at the Swearer Center in Spring and Fall 2017 with a focus on helping students engage in politics, law and national security. Clay's widespread experience in politics and public policy includes his own campaign for Governor of Rhode Island in 2014 and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, as well as service in both foreign and domestic policy roles in the Obama Administration. Clay served as Director for Strategic Planning on the White House National Security Staff and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education at the U.S. Department of Education, where he led the U.S. government’s world language and international education programs. Clay graduated first in his class from the Coast Guard Direct Commission Officer School, earned his J.D. from Georgetown University, and graduated from Harvard University with high honors in Social Studies and a citation in Modern Standard Arabic. In addition, Clay is a practicing attorney, a member of multiple nonprofit boards in the Rhode Island community and beyond, and continues to serve as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves.