Mari Radford has been an integral member of communities in parts of the world that many Americans are familiar with only through newspaper headlines and the evening news.

Whether helping ensure the safety of civilians and soldiers in war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, evacuating refugees escaping tribal violence in Rwanda or building communities from the ground up in Russian Georgia after the fall of the Soviet Union, Radford, 46, has been a part of events on the global stage. She brings that wealth of experience to her role as keynote speaker for the Ambler College Graduation Ceremony.

Radford’s journey from history major to U.S. State Department employee to CRP master’s degree recipient begins in Oregon, continues to Africa and Asia and ends in Ambler — though this ending is just the beginning of the next chapter of her life.

“I completed my undergraduate degree in History in 1981, during the height of one of the last economic slumps,” said Radford, of Fort Washington. “The timber industry in Oregon essentially collapsed and there were few jobs to be found, so my husband, Dean, and I decided to move east. Dean joined the CIA and I worked for the State Department in a variety of jobs — we spent 15 years overseas. We spent three years in Tanzania, where I learned Swahili and worked at the embassy in Dar Es Salam running the motor pool and government contracting.”

Radford then helped get the U.S. Liaison Office in Mogadishu, Somalia — a war-ravaged hot zone — off the ground from her posting in Nairobi, Kenya.

“While in Nairobi, the tribal violence in Rwanda exploded. We were directly involved in evacuating Americans and expatriates for the region,” she said. “It was extremely complicated creating a community for them where they could be housed and fed. It was one of the first times one of our embassies in that part of the world had been involved in an operation of this kind.”

After a brief stint in San Francisco (where the Radfords welcomed their second child — Ross and Reed are now 16 and 14) and two years preparing for their next assignment following the breakup of the USSR, Radford and her family made their home in Tbilisi, the capitol of Georgia.

After their time in Georgia, the family returned to the states after Radford’s husband, Dean, opted to leave the CIA. Radford started a very successful chef business, promoting healthy meals. After four years in northern Virginia, Dean accepted a vice president’s position at a regional MedEvac firm, and the family relocated to the Philadelphia area.

Tragedy struck the family in 2005, however, when Dean passed away from a rare neurological disease. Radford had several decisions to make for herself and her family.

“I had thought about returning to Oregon where my parents still live, but I had been gone for 20 years. We decided to stay and start this new chapter in our lives,” Radford said. “I bought a house in Fort Washington, which was in easy walking or biking distance to transportation, school and the library. It afforded us the opportunity to make some real connections in the community.”

Then, at a community event, Radford met Susan Spinella, assistant director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University Ambler and a graduate of Temple’s Community and Regional Planning master’s degree program.

“I loved my jobs overseas and I was really trying to determine how to make those experiences marketable in the real world. Everything I heard about the Community and Regional Planning program seemed to legitimize my previous experience,” she said.

Radford said her State Department experience provided a “very logical link” to her CRP studies.

“In several of the places we served, we always had a suitcase packed, whether it was because of political unrest or physical instability in the region. One of the mandates of the State Department was to always have a sense of readiness,” she said. “Through all of my experiences, emergency management became a real interest of mine. I learned very early on that building communities was not just about where to place city hall, mapping out streets and stormwater management. It’s also about how to plan for safety — I want to take my skills and apply them in an emergency management context.”

She’s already applying her skills in her community as a member of the Upper Dublin Planning Commission. An internship with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has also “paid off in spades,” she said. On June 1, she will begin a new career at URS Corporation as their FEMA Outreach Coordinator — “a perfect match for my interest in emergency management planning and my newly minted Community and Regional Planning degree.”