The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2014 63 AFSA NEWS TIMDILLI AFSA Hosts USAID Mission Directors’ Happy Hour On May 15, AFSA hosted the first-ever “Mission Directors’ Happy Hour” during USAID’s Mission Directors Conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. AFSA President Robert J. Silverman, AFSA USAID Vice President Sharon Wayne and AFSA Executive Director Ian Houston hosted the attendees and shared AFSA’s work, pro- jected plans and accomplishments. In addition, the AFSA officials received informal feedback from mission directors on issues they face in the field and management concerns among Foreign Service officers. These include retirement age, case fairness and balance, medical issues, State/USAID benefit parity, spousal employment and benefits, language training, USAID interest in linked assignments, pet advocacy, international school safety and Senate promotion and tenure holds. AFSA thanks all who attended and participated in the discussion. AFSA also thanks the office of USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah for continual support in aid- ing our efforts to speak for the Foreign Service and improve American diplomacy both at home and abroad. —Chioma Dike, AFSA USAID Staff Inside a U.S. Embassy: Yet Another Print Run By early spring, AFSA had sold and distributed just about all of the first 25,000 copies of the 2011 third edition of our popular introduc- tion to the Foreign Service, Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work . We ordered a third printing, a run of 5,000 books, in May. All three printings of the third edition have been done by United Book Press, a family owned and operated printing business in Baltimore, Md. The company is committed to environmental sustain- ability and is a member of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Staff at UBP are a pleasure to work with—reliable, efficient and quick to get the job done. They even took photos for us. This printing takes the overall print run of all three editions of Inside a U.S. Embassy to more than 110,000 copies. Find out more about the book and how you might use it for Foreign Service outreach at www.afsa.org/inside or write to embas- sybook@afsa.org. —Shawn Dorman, Editor Above, USAID mission directors at a “happy hour” hosted by AFSA on May 15. AFSA President Robert J. Silverman, left inset, and AFSA Executive Director Ian Houston and USAID VP Sharon Wayne, right, addressed the group. PHOTOS:CHIOMADIKE