The Foreign Service Journal, April 2009

40 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 9 A F S A N E W S AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Staff: Executive Director, Acting, Ian Houston: houston@afsa.org Business Department Controller Kalpna Srimal: srimal@afsa.org Accounting Assistant Cory Nishi: cnishi@afsa.org Labor Management General Counsel Sharon Papp: papps@state.gov Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich: badrichz@state.gov Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: yorkej@state.gov Grievance Attorneys Neera Parikh: parikhna@state.gov and Holly Rich: richhe@state.gov Office Manager Christine Warren: warrenc@state.gov USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Douglas Broome: dbroome@usaid.gov USAID Office Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: asigfusson@usaid.gov Member Services Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: hedrick@afsa.org Member Services Representative Michael Laiacona: laiacona@afsa.org Web site & Database Associate Geron Pleasant: webmaster@afsa.org Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez: lopez@afsa.org Outreach Programs Retiree Liaison Bonnie Brown: brown@afsa.org Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: switzer@afsa.org Congressional Affairs Director Ian Houston: houston@afsa.org Executive Assistant to the President Austin Tracy: tracy@afsa.org Scholarship Director Lori Dec: dec@afsa.org Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger: berger@afsa.org Elderhostel Administrator Bernard Alter: alter@afsa.org AFSA HEADQUARTERS: (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 USAID AFSA OFFICE: (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 FCS AFSA OFFICE: (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org FSJ: journal@afsa.org PRESIDENT: naland@afsa.org STATE VP: kashkettsb@state.gov RETIREE VP: pamichko@aol.com USAID VP: fzamora@usaid.gov FAS VP: henry.schmick@fas.usda.gov FCS VP: keith.curtis@mail.doc.gov AFSA News Editor Francesca Kelly : kelly@afsa.org (202) 338-4045, ext. 514; Fax: (202) 338-6820 On the Web : www.afsa.org/fsj and www.fsjournal.org How to Contact Us: Governing Board: PRESIDENT: John Naland STATE VP: Steve Kashkett USAID VP: Francisco Zamora FAS VP: Henry Schmick FCS VP: Keith Curtis RETIREE VP: Robert W. Farrand SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris TREASURER: Andrew Winter STATE REPS: Anne Aguilera, David Firestein, Susan Malcik, Sandy Robinson, Shayna Steinger, Elaine Tiang-Chu, Daphne Titus, Andrea Tomaszewicz, Christopher Tremann USAID REP: Michael Henning FCS REP: Rebecca Balogh FAS REP: Kathryn Ting IBB REP: Al Pessin RETIREE REPS: Janice Bay, Herman Cohen, David Passage, Jonathan Sperling Transition Center Schedule of Courses for April 2009 April 3 High Stress Assignment Outbrief (MQ950) April 4 Transition toWashington for Foreign-Born Spouses (MQ302) April 13-14 Security Overseas Seminar (MQ911) April 15 Traveling with Pets (MQ855) April 18 Protocol (MQ116) April 20-21 Security Overseas Seminar (MQ911) April 22 Personal Finances and Investments (MQ852) April 25 Singles in the Foreign Service (MQ203) April 25 Communicating Across Cultures (MQ802) April 27-30 Retirement Planning Seminar (RV101) April 29 Safe Overseas Home (MQ916) April 29 Developing Virtual Job Opportunities To register or for further information, contact the FSI Transition Center by telephone at (703) 302-7268 or -7269, or by e-mail at FSITCTraining@state.gov. Support the AFSA Scholarship Fund! By now, AFSA members should have received our annual appeal asking you to support the AFSA Scholarship Fund. Your donated dollars provide need-based, undergraduate financial aid scholar- ships and high school senior merit awards to Foreign Service chil- dren. With the continuing economic downturn, AFSA has received a record number of scholarship and financial aid applications for the 2009-2010 school year. Please be as generous as you can when making your donation. Recent Donations to AFSA Scholar- ship Fund Thank you to our generous donors for the following AFSA Scholarship Fund contributions. • In December 2008, Mr. Norton Bell, a program attendee at a 2007 Elderhostel Program on the Foreign Service who estab- lished a scholarship in his name, donated the 2008 distribution from his Individual Retirement Account to further fund this scholarship. • In January, through a bequest, Mr. Arthur R. Dornheim’s estate distributed $1,000 to the AFSA Scholarship Fund. AFSA will use this gift to pro- vide a need-based Financial Aid Scholarship. Mr. Dornheim was an AFSA-member retiree who passed away in 2008. • In March, the Foreign Service Retiree Associ- ation of New Mexico disbanded and donated the remaining monies in its bank account to the AFSA Scholarship Fund. Thanks to Dr. Austin Moede and Ms. Lesley Mortimer for coordinating this gift. Gift to the Fallen Diplomats Campaign In December 2008, 70 students who comprised the 139th A-100 Officer General- ist Training Class donated $1,267 to the Fallen Diplomats Campaign administered by the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (www.feea.org ), which matches any gift by 100 percent. This donation and others like it, such as the $37,500 AFSA Scholarship Fund gift made to FEEA in June 2008, are used to pro- vide college scholarships to children who lost a diplomatic parent to terrorism be- tween 1988 and 2003. This gift comprised the “leftover” monies collected, but not used, for the class’ administrative training expenses. The 139th class was sworn in on July 27, 2008, and about 42 of the 70 individuals are currently assigned overseas. Timothy Swett coordinated this gift.