ASU International Development adviser passes away

Janet Ballantyne, a retired foreign service officer at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and a senior adviser for ASU International Development, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 30, at the age of 78.

Ballantyne spent 33 years with USAID, serving at Washington, D.C., headquarters and in six countries and regional programs — Peru, Nepal, Morocco, Nicaragua, Russia, and the Central Asian Republics. She was deputy mission director in Nepal and Morocco, and mission director in Nicaragua, Russia, and the Central Asian Republics. In Washington, D.C., she served first as an economist in the Bureau for Latin America, and later as deputy assistant administrator in four bureaus. Following her last overseas tour, as USAID’s principal representative in Moscow, she served two years as USAID Professor at the National War College in Washington.

Having retired from USAID in 2002 with the rank of career minister, she returned to the agency in 2007 at the request of a new administrator and served as senior deputy assistant administrator for the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean for five years before retiring a second time in 2012 with the position of counselor to the agency. In 2016, she was recognized by USAID’s administrator for a lifetime of service to the agency and the American people and commitment to global development.

Since retiring, Ballantyne continued to work in development. She served as a senior adviser for ASU, providing perspective on the field of international development and guidance on projects that ASU implements for USAID, including the Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy (PCASE), India-Support for Teacher Education Programs (In-STEP), several projects in Vietnam and numerous initiatives in Latin America.

Born in North Hempstead, New York, Ballantyne spent her early years in Kettering, Ohio. She received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University, and a doctorate in international development from Cornell’s School of Business. She was predeceased by her husband Robert P. Murphy, and is survived by her son John Ernesto Murphy-Ballantyne, her daughter-in-law Marisol Murphy-Ballantyne, and their daughter, Stela.