Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor was appointed Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information in June 2002 after serving as Interim Head of Department of Public Information (DPI) since January 2001. In this capacity, he is in charge of the Organization's com.munications strategy, with particular responsibility for ensuring the coherence and effectiveness of the United Nations' external message, as well as maintaining contact with local and international media. Prior to joining DPI, Mr. Tharoor served as Director of Communications and Special Projects in the Office of the Secretary-General and as Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, where he assisted two successive heads of United Nations peacekeeping operations in managing the challenges of unprece.dented growth and evolution in peace-keeping at the end of the cold war. From 1991 to 1996, he led the team responsible for the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Tharoor's United Nations career began in 1978 on the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. He was Head of the UNHCR office in Singapore during the peak of the Vietnamese "boat people" crisis. Mr. Tharoor is also the author of six books, as well as numerous articles, op.eds and literary reviews in a wide range of publications. He is also the recipient of several journalism and literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Mr. Tharoor is an elected Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and a member of the Advisory Board of the Indo-American Arts Council. Shashi Tharoor is a national of India.