The 2017 CWU music education graduate has already built up an impressive list of accomplishments in his brief career, but he always finds a way to bring it back to his hometown.

“Ellensburg is my home, and I love it here,” said Harbaugh, who spent the summer in town with his wife and two young children. “Growing up here and going to CWU prepared me well for everything I’m doing now. I’m very cognizant of place, and I believe it’s important to share my story with the CWU community. My experience in Ellensburg has been integral to the exciting career I’ve just begun.”

Now that he’s rubbing elbows with high-ranking U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries, Harbaugh looks back on his time at Central as being instrumental to his professional development. As a newly minted Foreign Service Officer, he often taps into the diverse knowledge base he developed as an undergraduate.

“It all comes back to CWU,” said Harbaugh. “My general education classes gave me a diverse foundation of knowledge that I draw from and can apply in different scenarios. Most of all, I learned how to learn, and that has been immensely helpful in my career.”

Harbaugh points to one particular experience that helped him realize that he wanted to pivot toward foreign policy: teaching English in Macau, China, in 2016.

“Studying abroad showed me that I might want to work in a different space,” he said. “The experience showed me that some of the things I was good at and truly valued about music—things like cross-cultural communication and performance under pressure—could be more fully realized in diplomacy. Living in Macau was life-changing for me.”

After graduation, Harbaugh stayed in Ellensburg for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., to pursue a master’s degree in U.S. foreign policy and national security at American University.

As a grad student, he was awarded the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship, which led to his first jobs with the federal government as a Cybersecurity Program Manager with the Space Force and with the State Department in Zambia, where he helped combat human trafficking for six months.

“The work I did in Zambia includes many of the same responsibilities that I’ll have as a political officer in the Foreign Service,” said Harbaugh, who will begin a multi-year assignment in China next July. “Political officers are generalists, which means we provide political analysis, deliver briefings to senior U.S. government officials, and negotiate agreements with foreign interlocuters to name just a few things.”

Until his departure next summer, he will be back home in D.C., learning Mandarin and the many intricacies of his new job. He expects to relocate to a new country every couple of years, but no matter where his career takes him, he is ready for the challenge.

“CWU provided me with such an amazing foundation that I feel like I can be successful in any environment,” Harbaugh said. “You wouldn’t assume that a music education degree would translate to a career in diplomacy, but there are many crossover skills. I didn’t know it would turn out like this, but I’m really happy with the direction my career has gone—and CWU has been key to my journey.”