U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft to address Craft Academy graduates

United States Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft will be the featured speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics at Morehead State University on Saturday, May 12, at 5 p.m. in Button Auditorium.

Ambassador Craft and her husband Joe Craft established the academy in 2016. 

The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics is a dual-credit residential high school for academically exceptional Kentucky students. The Craft Academy's purpose is to meet the unique educational needs of academically gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors in the Commonwealth.

“It is an honor for us to welcome the ambassador back to Morehead State,” said Dr. Jay Morgan, MSU president. “What a tremendous opportunity for our Craft Academy graduates to hear not only from a benefactor of their program, but to have the rare experience of listening to the perspectives of someone serving in such an important international capacity.”

President Donald J. Trump nominated Craft to be the United States Ambassador to Canada and she was formally sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on Sept. 26, 2017.  She presented her credentials to Governor General Julie Payette on Oct. 23, 2017.

Craft serves as the president’s personal representative to the government and people of Canada. She leads the U.S. Mission to Canada, which comprises the embassy in Ottawa and seven consulates located across Canada.

Craft is a leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist who has made community service and improving education the cornerstones of her career.

A third generation Kentuckian, Craft demonstrates a deep commitment to her home state by serving in several leadership roles with the Salvation Army of Lexington and the Center for Rural Development, a non-profit dedicated to economic development in rural Kentucky. She also served on the boards of directors for the Kentucky Arts Council, the Lexington Philharmonic, YMCA of Central Kentucky and the United Way of The Bluegrass.

With a deep commitment to education, Craft has served on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, and co-founded the Morehead State University Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics which nurtures the academic talents of young Kentuckians.

In the private sector, she founded a successful marketing and business advisory firm providing leadership advice to businesses in her community and across the country. In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Craft as an alternate delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

Craft is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and holds an Honorary Doctorate degree from Morehead State University. She and her husband, Joe Craft, who also is a Kentucky native and UK graduate, share six children and 11 grandchildren.