Joseph William Westphal[1] (born January 26, 1948) is an American politician and diplomat who was most recently the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

[1][4] Westphal served as the head of the department of political science at Oklahoma State University between 1975 and 1987 and as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University while working at the law firm of Patton Boggs.

[8] Westphal was a member of President Obama's Transition Team for Defense[9] and was appointed as the United States Under Secretary of the Army in September 2009.

He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador to Saudi Arabia on March 26, 2014, and sworn in the same day.

[10][11] Westphal is a senior global fellow and the Chung Sun Term Professor at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies at the Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania.