The Foreign Service Journal, May 2015

AFSA NEWS CALENDAR THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION AFSA Co-Sponsors ‘Distinguished Diplomat’ Lecture by Amb. Pickering THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2015 49 May 1 Foreign Affairs Day, AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony, and AFSA Retiree Reception May 3-9 Public Service Recognition Week May 6 12-2 p.m. AFSA Governing Board Meeting May 8 12-2 p.m. Film Screening “Last Days in Vietnam” May 10 9 a.m. Third Annual Public Service 5K Run/Walk May 11 AFSA Book Notes “The Blood Telegram” May 17-21 AFSA Road Scholar Program Washington, D.C. June 3 12-2 p.m. AFSA Governing Board Meeting June 4 AFSA Election Ballot Tally June 9 4-6 p.m. AFSA Awards Ceremony Ambassador Thomas Picker- ing delivered the second bien- nial Distinguished Diplomat Lecture at La Colombe d’Or Hotel in Houston, Texas, on March 19. The American Foreign Ser- vice Association and the Cen- ter for International Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston jointly estab- lished the lecture series in 2013 to promote and deepen the region’s knowledge and understanding of the Foreign Service. The Center for Inter- national Studies is the oldest formal center for international studies in southeast Texas. The Distinguished Diplo- mat Lecture is held soon after each federal election and is given by an eminent retired ambassador, who is asked to Continued on p. 56 Career Ambassador Thomas Pickering delivers the second biennial Distinguish- ed Diplomat Lecture, which was co-sponsored by AFSA and the Center for International Studies at the University of St.Thomas, in Houston,Texas. COURTESYOFTHECENTERFOR INTERNATIONALSTUDIES,UNIVERSITYOFST.THOMAS AFSA Scholarship Fund Receives Record-Breaking Gift By all accounts, Linda K. Fitzgerald loved Foreign Service life. Her 21-year career as a Foreign Service specialist took her around the world, to posts in Europe (Helsinki, Paris and Warsaw), Asia (Saigon and Tokyo) and Africa (Tunis). It was not the typical path for a woman born in 1931 in the small town of Elyria, Ohio, but, it seems, Linda Fitzgerald was not a typical person. When Ms. Fitzgerald died in December 2013 at the age of 82, she left a gift of $950,000 to the AFSA Scholarship Fund, to be used for undergraduate college awards for children of Foreign Service employees. It is the largest memorial gift ever given to the AFSA Scholar- ship Fund. Fitzgerald graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1953. She joined the State Department in 1962, and served as the political section secretary in Tehran for her first tour. Two years later she transferred to the United States Information Agency, where she worked until her retirement in 1983, providing all aspects of man- agement support for USIA programs as an executive assistant. “Linda was an incredibly Continued on p. 57 AFSA ELECTIONS DON’T FORGET TO VOTE! (SEE P.52)