The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

74 SEPTEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Amb. Stephenson offers career advice to Foreign Service officers of the 183rd A-100 class. AFSA/MARIAC.LIVINGSTON New board members sign their oaths of office. AFSA/MARIAC.LIVINGSTON Oath of Office Officers and Representatives of the Governing Board of the American Foreign Service Association “As a member of the Governing Board of the American Foreign Service Association, I hereby pledge to do my best to carry out the association’s mission to represent the members of the Foreign Service of the United States in accordance with the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and to strengthen the ability of the foreign affairs community to contribute to effective foreign policies. “As I performmy duties to the best of my ability, I will abide by applicable federal and District of Columbia laws and regulations; follow the association’s bylaws, policies and standard operating procedures; maintain the fiscal integrity of the association; safeguard the association’s property; respect the confidentiality of board discussions and delib- erations; and conduct myself in a manner that does credit to the association and to the American Foreign Service.” not coming to any concrete conclusions about how to remedy the situation, Jett suggested that ensur- ing greater transparency regarding political donations and employing an annual electronic survey for every post and bureau to more effectively measure morale could help. History of Ambassadors • Continued from page 73 Governing Board • Continued from page 53 throughout the course of their careers. “AFSA will protect you as your union. It’ll stand by you when you run into difficulty… this is an important part of what AFSA does. But I wanted to open by talking to you about what AFSA will do, as your profes- sional association, to keep this proud profession that you have just joined strong today and throughout your careers. “I want you to always swell with pride when you’re asked, ‘What do you do?’ I know that 30 years into this, every time I’m asked this, I still am proud to say ‘I am an Ameri- can Foreign Service officer.’” With those inaugural words, the entire AFSA team is geared up and working Jett is also the author of Why American Foreign Policy Fails (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post and International Herald Tribune . To view Jett’s talk, please go to www.afsa.org/video. n —Brittany DeLong, Assistant Editor full-steam ahead toward the goal of making the Foreign Service better and stronger than ever before. n —Maria C. Livingston, Associate Editor