The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 53 AFSA NEWS NOMI NAT I ON DEADL I NE APPROACH I NG : AFSA EXEMPLARY PERFORMANCE AWARDS AFSA is accepting nominations for its five awards recogniz- ing exemplary performance until the Feb. 28 deadline.We urge members to nominate someone whose contribution has made a dierence. The Nelson B. Delavan Award recognizes the work of a For- eign Service Oce Management Specialist. The M. Juanita Guess Award is conferred on a Community Liaison Oce Coordinator who has demonstrated outstanding leadership. The Avis Bohlen Award honors the volunteer accomplish- ments of a family member of a Foreign Service employee at post. The AFSAAchievement and Contributions to the Associa- tion Award is for active-duty and retiredmembers of AFSA. The Post Rep of the Year Award honors a post representative who best demonstrates sustained and successful engagement withAFSAmembership at post. Recipients are presented with a monetary prize and are hon- ored at a ceremony in June in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the State Department. For details on the awards and to file a nomination online, go to www.afsa.org/performance. Contact Special Awards and Outreach Coordinator Perri Green at green@afsa.org or (202) 719-9700 for more information. ANNOUNCEMENT AFSA has increased dues for 2015 by 1.7 percent for all individual membership categories. In concrete terms, it amounts to an increase of between 5 and 25 cents per pay period, depending on an individual’s membership category. AFSA’s policy is to increase dues by an amount corre- lating to the third-quarter Consumer Price Index increase published by the Department of Labor, which is used by the Social Security Administration to calculate the next year’s Cost-of-Living Adjustment increases. This increase will provide the association with a stable and predictable income source, which allows AFSA to continue oering excellent member services and advance member priorities. Active-duty and retired members paying dues via payroll and annuity deduction will see a small, automatic increase in the amount automatically deducted from their paychecks and annuities. Those paying annually will be billed the new rate on their regularly scheduled renewal date. n F I ND I NG THE FSJ ONL I NE “FS Know-How” articles have covered such topics as organizational tips for travel- ing, advice for spouses and copingmecha- nisms, to name just a few, and give useful advice for dealing with life in the Foreign Service.“FS Know-How”columns can be found at www.afsa.org/fsknowhow. “Speaking Out” is a space for FSmem- bers to bring up concerns about or express opinions on Foreign Service issues. Recent columns have addressed the role of Foreign Service specialists,minority representa- tion and ambassadorial qualifications. Go to www.afsa.org/speakingout to read this collection. These resources will be updated every time a new article is published in The Foreign Service Journal .We also encourage submissions to each of these columns; please send your contributions to journal@ afsa.org . For details see the FSJ author guidelines at www.bit.ly/FSJ_submission. —Sarah Kay, Communications Intern NEWS BRIEF AFSA Increases Dues for 2015