The Foreign Service Journal, March 2012

M A R C H 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 emony, a steady stream of articles written by past dissent award winners appeared frommonth to month. Columns written by AFSA’s VP representatives from the foreign affairs agencies continued to provide our members with critical information on the state of their agencies, in ad- dition to the overall issues facing the Foreign Service. In April, AFSA hired Donna Ayerst as editor of AFSA News . Along with the Foreign Service Journal , AFSANews staff participated in the selection of a design firm to redesign both publications, a process we anticipate completing in 2012. With an increase in the number of events AFSA presents, AFSANews saw an increase in the number of pages dedicated to event coverage. Articles and photographs providedmem- bers with a lively and robust display of the informative and well-attended programs. In 2012, AFSA News is looking forward to an increase in articles covering Foreign Service life and welcomes submis- sions from FS employees, family members and retirees. For more information please contact Editor Donna Ayerst at ayerst@afsa.org wi th submissions or queries. Online Presence We expanded our digital Foreign Service Journal archives, which now extend back to January 2003. In 2012, expansion is planned back to 2000. We continued our foray into the world of social media, as well. The AFSA Facebook page (www.facebook.com/afsa page) is nearing 3,000 fans and is updated multiple times a week. Similarly, our Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/afsatweets) is steadily gaining followers. Finally, our YouTube page (www. youtube.com/afsatube) inc ludes recordings of AFSA events. Facebook pages for Inside a U.S. Embassy and the Foreign Service Journal broaden AFSA’s reach still further. Those pages have more than 2,000 friends together. We hope you will followAFSA in all these forums so that you can keep up with our activities. Road Scholar Now in their 16th year,AFSA’s Road Scholar (formerly El- derhostel) programs continued to bring information about the Foreign Service and foreign policy to hundreds of senior Americans. In 2011, we offered courses in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Tucson,Ariz.; Chautauqua,N.Y.; andWashington,D.C. All of these programs featured active-duty and retired Foreign Serv- ice employees discussing current foreign policy issues — ranging from the Arab Spring to global terrorism—with at- tendees. It is a tremendously worthwhile outreach effort that creates awareness of the Foreign Service, diplomacy and de- velopment among the American public. We introduced some new program themes in 2011, in- cluding a very timely program focusing on North Africa and the Middle East. Offered for the first time in November, it drew a maximum capacity enrollment of 50 participants. Speakers Program One of AFSA’s most effective outreach components is our national Speakers Program. In 2011, Foreign Service speak- ers addressed the vital importance of U.S. diplomacy before more than 30,000 academic and professional attendees in 42 states and Washington, D.C. AFSA’s speaker corps includes more than 450 retired and active-duty Foreign Service offi- cers, including 75 former ambassadors, many of whom con- tinue to be actively involved in international affairs as consultants, businesspeople, authors and teachers. ANNUAL REPORT American Foreign Service Association 2011 A F S A N E W S Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns and Marshall Adair (center, L and R) join students from the American University School of International Service after Amb. Burns presented the fifth annual Caroline and Ambassador Charles Adair Memorial Lecture on Aug. 31. DONNA AYERST