Koula Sophianou (LA’95, MA’97) lives a cosmopolitan life as the ambassador of Cyprus to the Kingdom of Spain.

It’s the kind of life Sophianou dreamed of growing up in her island country, where early life was marked by tragedy: her father was killed during the Turkish army invasion of Cyprus in 1974, when Sophianou was only 18 months old, and her mother was pregnant with her sister. “Things were hard, but she still gave us the most dignified life she possibly could,” Sophianou says.

The nuclear family also received significant support from relatives, which made a strong impression on Sophianou. “I always had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around me,” she says. “You feel the support growing up in love, and that helps you in life. You know you will have people always standing by you.”

Sophianou wanted to have that kind of community all her life; she also wanted to come to the United States. Both of those dreams came to fruition when Sophianou became the recipient of a scholarship through the Cyprus-America Scholarship Program, through which she attended Purdue as a communications and Spanish major and obtained her master’s degree in Spanish language literature immediately afterward.

Purdue is a pioneering school, and it makes you feel really proud to be part of it.

“Right away I felt that, again, I had this wonderful support system,” Sophianou says. “The professors, the West Lafayette and Lafayette community, everyone. The international students in particular were very close, and I’m still good friends with many of them. I’m lucky to say I have friends from America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa — it’s like the United Nations!”

West Lafayette was quite different from Cyprus, but Sophianou — who was an active board member of the International Student Association, among other positions — “never felt like a foreigner.” Purdue’s values also matched that of the diplomatic life she would embark upon. “It’s about technology, innovation, making connections. Purdue is a pioneering school, and it makes you feel really proud to be a part of it.”

After graduating, Sophianou returned to Cyprus to work at the ministry’s protocol and consular affairs division and later the political affairs division. In 2000, she was assigned to the Cypriot Embassy in Athens, Greece, and in 2003 she was assigned to Cyprus’ permanent representation to the European Union and was responsible for the relations of Cyprus with the European Parliament. She then worked at the Cyprus Question and Turkey division from 2007 to 2009, when she came back to the States to serve as Cyprus’s consul general in New York.

In recognition of her career achievements and global contributions, Sophianou received a College of Liberal Arts Emerging Voice Award in 2012. In 2014, she was appointed the director of the foreign minister’s office, a position equivalent to the chief of staff for the US secretary of state. In September 2016, she moved to Madrid to serve as the Cyprus ambassador to Spain. “No one can believe that I learned my Spanish in Indiana,” she says, laughing. “It’s just another way that Purdue is with me forever.”