AFSA Award winners for 2009 posted May 18, 2009

AFSA Award winners for 2009
May 18, 2009

1. The American Foreign Service Association is proud to announce the AFSA Award winners for 2009. The awards will be presented on Thursday, June 18, 4:00 P.M., at a ceremony in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the Department of State. AFSA invites colleagues of this year's award winners to attend.

2. Lifetime Contributions: AFSA's annual award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy will be conferred on former Senator Sam Nunn. Senator Nunn is the co-author of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, legislation passed in 1991 which has provided diplomats a critical and essential tool in their efforts to eliminate nuclear materials in the post-Soviet world. Since his retirement from the Senate, he has maintained his interest in diplomacy and security. He serves as co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a charitable organization working to reduce global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He is chairman of the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and is a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. Previous recipients of this award include U. Alexis Johnson, Frank Carlucci, George H.W. Bush, Lawrence Eagleburger, Cyrus Vance, David Newsom, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering, George Shultz, Richard Parker, Senator Richard Lugar, Mort Abramowitz, Joan Clark, and Tom Boyatt. To read Senator Nunn's remarks at the awards ceremony, please click here.

3. Constructive Dissent: This year's AFSA awards for intellectual courage, initiative, and integrity in the context of constructive dissent will be presented to the following Foreign Service employees who demonstrated the courage to speak out and challenge the system, despite the possible consequences. Each will receive a certificate of recognition and $2,500 for their unique actions and courage.

-- The Tex Harris Award for a Foreign Service Specialist was awarded to Barron I. Rosen, a diplomatic courier based in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Mr. Rosen spoke out against unsafe practices which impacted the duties of the couriers assigned to travel to Central American posts. Couriers were required to travel on unsafe cargo planes for up to 20 hours. The cargo company required all the couriers to sign a liability waiver. Mr. Rosen objected to this waiver which would not allow them to bring action against the company in the event of an accident or gross negligence. After considerable persistence on the part of Mr. Rosen, management cancelled the arrangement with the cargo company and the couriers now fly on commercial carriers.

--The William R. Rivkin Award for a mid-level Foreign Service Officer will be presented to two separate individuals. Jeffrey S. Collins, a political officer at U.S. Embassy Ankara, and Michael C. Gonzales, Political/Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa will each receive the award. Susan Ball was selected as the runner-up for the Rivkin awardm.

Jeffrey Collins worked hard to improve the protection of human rights in Turkey and to raise awareness of the need to reform and improve the State Departments system of human rights reporting. He challenged both the Embassy leadership and State Department officials on existing policies for meeting with human rights activists, and he made specific recommendations on how to improve the human rights reporting process.

Michael Gonzales worked diligently within the proper channels to rebalance U.S. foreign policy toward Ethiopia to better advance U.S. long-term interests. He challenged the status quo to draw attention to the authoritarian policies of the Ethiopian government despite significant resistance from the State Department and Africa Bureau and succeeded in having his recommendations included in the Embassy's report to the transition team.

--There were no winners this year of the Harriman Award for a junior-level officer, or the Herter Award for a senior-level officer.

4. The AFSA Awards and Plaque Committee select the Harris, Harriman, and Herter Dissent Award winners. Committee members include: Ambassador (Ret.) John Limbert, Chairman; Francisco Zamora, USAID; active duty Foreign Service officers George Sibley, Sue Saarnio and Eva Groening; OMS Teresa Yata; and retired FSOs Janice Bay, Ambassador (Ret.) Edward Peck, and Dick Thompson.

--The Rivkin Award winner was selected by the children of the late Ambassador William Rivkin: Julia Wheeler, Laura Ledford, Charles Rivkin and Robert Rivkin, as well as Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Boyatt, who worked with Ambassador Rivkin, Marshall Bouton, president, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, the Honorable Newton N. Minow, and former congressman Jim Leach.

5. Exemplary Performance: The following personnel are this year's winners of AFSA's three awards for exemplary performance and extraordinary contributions to professionalism, morale and effectiveness. Each will receive a certificate of recognition and a monetary prize of $2,500.

-- Erica Krug, U.S. Embassy Harare, winner of the Avis Bohlen Award, presented to a Foreign Service family member whose relations with the American and foreign communities at a Foreign Service post have done the most to advance American interests. Runner-up is Stephanie Tansey, U.S. Embassy Abuja. Judges serving on the Bohlen Panel included: Faye Barnes, President of AAFSW, Ambassador (Ret.) Avis T. Bohlen, for whose mother this award is named; Mette Beecroft, AAFSW President Emeritus, Dawn McKeever, former Avis Bohlen award winner; and Ginny Taylor, former Director of the Family Liaison Office.

-- Megan E. Gallardo, U.S. Embassy Podgorica, winner of the Delavan Award, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to effectiveness, professionalism and morale by an Office Management Specialist. Runner-up is Kristina Lorenger, U.S. Embassy Damascus. Members of the Delavan panel of judges include: Anne Aguilera, chairman and AFSA Board member, Terry Girone, active-duty OMS; Jenny Jeras, former Delavan Award winner; Margaret Riccardelli, retired OMS, and Ambassador (Ret) Susan Jacobs.

--Juliana (Lily) Hightower, U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa, will receive the M. Juanita Guess Award for outstanding service as a Community Liaison Officer who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, dedication, initiative or imagination assisting families serving at an overseas post. Co-runners-up were Michelle Destito, U.S. Embassy Ankara, and Mary Knight, U.S. Embassy Beirut. Serving on the Guess Award panel were: Kendall Montgomery, Chair, Judy Ikels, former Deputy Director of FLO, Cathy Salvaterra, former CLO Support Officer, Katherine Munchmeyer and Jane Zimmerman, active-duty Foreign Service officers, and Gina Wells, former CLO.

6. AFSA Post Representative of the Year: A special award for the AFSA Post Representative of the Year will be presented to Kenneth Kero, who is the AFSA representative at Embassy Berlin. He will receive a framed certificate and a cash award of $1,000.

7. Finally, we gratefully appreciate the efforts of all those who sent in nominations and hope that posts can recognize their nominees outstanding accomplishments in another manner. We thank all those who served on panels this year. AFSA places great importance on these awards, which serve to recognize intellectual courage and outstanding achievement of our Foreign Service personnel. We thank Director General Harry Thomas for co-sponsoring our annual awards ceremony, which is open to any employee wishing to attend. Details on the achievements of this year's winners will appear in the July-August issue of AFSA's Foreign Service Journal.