By Gail Hairston

(April 25, 2016) — Economic and Commercial Attaché to the United States Consulate for Western France Eric Beaty will visit the University of Kentucky Tuesday, April 26, for the last College of Arts and Sciences Year of Europe event this academic year.  He will make his address, “U.S. and European Union Trade Relations: The French Example” at 4 p.m., in the Multipurpose Room (B-108C) at the William T. Young Library.

Beaty completed his undergraduate studies at Stephen F. Austin University in Texas with a double major in French and German and a minor in history. He went on to earn a master’s degree in French literature at Rice University in Houston. Later, Beaty received a master's degree in linguistics from Aston University in Birmingham, U.K.

Beaty began his career at the University of Rennes 2, in France, in 1981 as a lecturer in American studies. He then worked as the assistant director of courses at two chambers of commerce in France. In 1986, Beaty became the executive director of a bi-national center known as the Franco-American Institute, an organization created in 1961 by Rennes City Hall, the U.S. Embassy in Paris and the City of Rochester, New York.

In 1999, Beaty was instrumental in setting up the United States Consulate for Western France. He was hired in 2000 by the U.S. State Department that same year as the economic and commercial attaché. 

Beaty has participated in the organization of 14 White House visits and 36 congressional delegation visits. He has chaired the Rennes-Rochester, New York, sister-city relationship since 1986. He is on the board of the University of Rennes 2.

Beaty has received 18 meritorious and superior service awards from the White House, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Beaty received a National Export Initiative Award for his export success stories in 2011.