AFSA NEWS 50 APRIL 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Welcomes Newest FS Members We’ve been busy welcoming new FS members to the Foreign Service and to AFSA HQ, where we’re talking to them about the various benefits they will enjoy when they join AFSA. On Jan. 30, USAID Vice President Randy Chester welcomed 24 members of USAID’s Career Candidate Corps Class 39. USAID AFSA Representative Christopher Saenger and Sue Bremner, AFSA’s USAID labor management adviser, also met with the class. The 24 class members combined speak 17 foreign languages and have worked or studied in 64 countries. LM Shows the Love On Feb. 14, the AFSA Labor Management team celebrated Valentine’s Day by hosting an open house for their State Department counterparts, clients, and colleagues from various employee organizations that work alongside AFSA. Guests wrote notes of appreciation and wandered through o£ces decorated for the big day. We our LM colleagues! n AFSA/SHIVANE ANAND AFSA/SHIVANE ANAND SHIVANE ANAND Seventeen have prior experience working for USAID. On Feb. 13, AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi and other senior AFSA sta welcomed an incredible 227 new State Department Foreign Service members from Generalist Class 217 and Specialist Class 171—so many that we had to divide them into multiple events just to get them all into the building! A special thank you to the numerous AFSA members who joined us to oer advice to these new FS members, including Ambassadors Maureen Cormack, Michael Dodman, Jennifer Galt, Lino Gutierrez, and Eunice Reddick; and Scott Bellard, Karen Christensen, Joel Maybury, John McNamara, Larilyn Reffett, and Darren Thies. Classes 217 and 171 include 20 Civil Service members who are joining the FS as generalists and specialists, along with 10 former consular fellows. Women make up 40 percent of the class, which includes four diplomatic couriers, five regional medical o£cers, 11 information management specialists, 22 o£ce management specialists, and 59 Diplomatic Security special agents. Class members speak more than 50 languages between them, including every o£cial United Nations language and languages spoken in each of the six geographic bureaus. No matter your agency or role, we welcome you all to the Foreign Service. n The 24 class members combined speak 17 foreign languages and have worked or studied in 64 countries. Seventeen have prior experience working for USAID.
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