Likins, Rose McCartney, 1959-

Rose McCartney Likins (born 1959) is a retired Career Ambassador within the United States Foreign Service and the former United States Ambassador to El Salvador and Peru. Likins also served as Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., where she was also Dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Professional and Area Studies.

Born Rose McCartney, Likins is a native of Virginia, She holds a BA in International Relations and Spanish from Mary Washington College where she graduated in 1981. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Likins entered the foreign service in 1981 and her early positions included Special Assistant to the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; Director of the State Department's Operations Center; and Honduras desk officer. She was also a consular officer in the Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico.

Later assignments included serving in the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay, Deputy Chief of Mission in Sofia, Bulgaria from 1995 to 1997, Deputy Executive Secretary of the State Department and United States Ambassador to El Salvador from August 2000 to June 2003 under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

From 2003 to 2006, Likins was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs at the State Department and from 2006 to 2010, she was the Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute where she was also Dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Professional and Area Studies.

On April 21, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Likins to be U.S. Ambassador to Peru and on August 10, 2010 the Senate confirmed her. She remained in the position from September 15, 2010 until June 27, 2014.

Between 2015 and 2017, Likins earned an MLIS degree from the University of Maryland-College Park. She is currently a librarian and content editor in northern Virginia.