The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2021 67 AFSA 2019 award recipients (from left) Laurent Charbonnet, Jonette Vaughan, Michelle Ross, Nora Brito, F. Allen “Tex” Harris, Ambassador (ret.) Herman “Hank” Cohen, Keith Koehler (father of Katherine Elizabeth Koehler, who was unable to attend), Lawrence Fields, Timmy Davis, Moises Mendoza, Christopher Gooch and Anna Boulos at the awards ceremony at the Harry S Truman Building on Oct. 16, 2019. AFSA/JOAQUINSOSA survey results were then widely shared with stakeholders, including agency management and affinity groups. Both found the results useful in creating recommendations for ways to combat bias in the foreign affairs agencies. In the winter of 2020-2021, AFSA partnered with three Rangel Fellows at Harvard’s Kennedy School to ask members to complete a third survey and participate in focus groups on retention, diversity, equity and inclusion (RDEI). AFSA then used those survey results to formu- late its own RDEI recommendations to the FS agencies and to Congress. Over the board period, PPI offered workshops and panels on various topics, such as how to hire the best candidate for positions and the different paths to Foreign Service area expertise, and held an event in which former Pickering and Rangel Fellows described how they arrived at their Foreign Service success. PPI organized panels on the Hatch Act, whistleblow- ing and federal whistleblower protections, and a session that featured two AFSA Constructive Dissent Award winners who spoke about how their dissent improved operations and policy within their agencies. Scholarships, Awards and Plaques A FSA has made significant strides in improving its scholarships program. In the sum- mer of 2020, we made the decision to take the association’s Financial Aid Scholarship Program back in house for an annual sav- ings of $16,000. This deci- sion has also streamlined the process for applicants by hosting all of AFSA’s scholarship applications on one platform. AFSA gives $355,000 in scholar- ships annually to children of AFSA members. This total is split between merit scholarships ($135,000) and financial aid scholarships ($220,000). No AFSA membership dues are used in the AFSA scholarship program, which has disbursed more than $4.3 million to more than 2,300 students in the past 26 years. The AFSA awards program continues to honor exem- plary performance and constructive dissent in the For- eign Service. The 2020 award winners are featured in the December 2020 FSJ , but the ceremony did not take place as usual because of the pandemic. AFSA plans to honor both its 2020 and 2021 performance and dissent award recipients in a ceremony this fall. Retiree Vice President John Naland spearheaded the coordination of a once-in-a-generation expansion of the AFSA memorial plaques in the Department of State’s C Street lobby during this board’s term. The project added the names of 69 diplomats and consular offi- cers dating back to 1794 whose deaths were unknown to AFSA previously. The expanded plaques also have space for 102 additional names. These renovations were completed in early May in time for Foreign Service Day 2021. AFSA TERM REPORT