The University of Texas at Austin

M. Diana Helweg Newton is Senior Fellow at the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University where she runs the Japan Studies Program. She has also been the Associate Director for Programs at the Tower Center. Before working at SMU, Mrs. Newton was an International Affairs Fellow and a Hitachi International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she served as the project director for the Economic Task Force on Japan. Before working at the Council, she served as the Executive Assistant to the Deputy National Security Advisor at the National Security Council, and as the Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs at the State Department. She is a graduate of Yale University and Boston University School of Law.

She has lived and worked in Japan several times: serving as a Coordinator for International Relations on the JET Program in the International Affairs Office of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Government; working in the legal department of Sumitomo Shoji, Tokyo; and doing research on the Japanese economy as a fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange, also in Tokyo. She is currently serving on the Board of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, and on the Council on Foreign Relations Term Member Selection Committee. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

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