The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

50 APRIL 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS On Nov. 2, the AFSA Govern- ing Board approved revisions to the criteria governing who is eligible to be considered for inclusion on the AFSA Memorial Plaques, located in the Department of State’s C Street Lobby. The official cri- teria, as approved, are spelled out in the following. v The AFSAMemorial Plaques honor members of the Foreign Service (as defined by Section 103, 1 through 5, of the Foreign Service Act of 1980) who die while serving abroad under circumstances distinctive to the Foreign Service. AFSAMemorial Plaques Criteria duties; • death due to disease related to particular circum- stances of overseas assign- ment; • death caused by inad- equate medical facilities, defective government equip- ment or facilities, a natural disaster at an overseas post, or crime at an overseas post. Deaths involving the decedent’s illegal, negligent, reckless or selfish behavior are not eligible for inclusion. The criteria for the addi- tion of a name to the AFSA Memorial Plaques shall be the criteria that applied at the time of the individual’s death. AFSA owns and maintains AFSA and the Public Diplomacy Council Team Up AFSA and the Public Diplo- macy Council are deepening their collaboration to bring our members more informa- tion on subjects related to the practice of public diplomacy. The PDC has long hosted its monthly lunchtime discus- sions at AFSA headquarters. NowAFSAwill record these and make them available to members of both organiza- tions. The first two recordings are available at www.afsa. org/video. The first feature s Alex Karagiannis—senior adviser to the Department of State’s Bureau of Human Resources—whose Feb. 25 presentation addresses how PD officers can demonstrate impact and capture the ever- elusive “so-what” factor on the new Employee Evaluation Report. The sec- ond involves a conversation with authors Ron Nixon and Daniel Whitman. Nixon’s book, Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global PropagandaWar , examines South Africa’s apart- heid propaganda campaign.Whit- man served as a program devel- opment officer at Embassy Pretoria in the late 1990s. His book, Outsmarting Apartheid: An Oral History of South Afri- ca’s Cultural and Educational Exchange with the United States, 1960-1999 , is based on interviews with South Africans and Americans who adminis- tered, advanced and benefited from government-funded exchange programs. In April, PDC will host DC Jazz Festival Executive Direc- tor Sunny Sumter, who will explore jazz as a PD tool. PDC meetings are held on the first Monday of each month. AFSAwill make the recordings available within two to three days of each pro- gram.We hope our members enjoy this collection of conver- sations on PD issues. —Ásgeir Sigfússon, Director of Communications Foreign Service Officer Lia Miller, an AFSA member and Public Diplomacy Council associate member, introduces Alexander Karagiannis at the Feb. 25 presentation on performance evaluations. Criteria for Eligibility Eligibility is limited to deaths occurring overseas due to circumstances distinc- tive to the Foreign Service, including acts of violence or terrorism. The death may occur at post of assignment or in another location, as long as the cause of death was an event or circumstance which occurred while on assignment outside the United States and was attributable to the loca- tion of assignment. Eligibility may also include any of the following: • travel to or from post and travel at post while in the active performance of official the plaques and organizes unveiling ceremonies when new names are added, in cooperation with the Depart- ment of State. Procedures The AFSAAwards and Plaques Committee consid- ers proposals for additional names and makes recom- mendations to the AFSA Governing Board, which selects the final names for inscription, based on the above criteria. Any questions about the memorial plaques should be directed to AFSAAwards Coordinator Perri Green at green@afsa.org or (202) 719- 9700. n