The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

66 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS AFSA Staff Changes HA I L Geneve Mantri joins AFSA as a policy analyst with the Pro- fessional Policy Issues unit. He previously served as the nonproliferation manager at U.S. Embassy Chisinau, Moldova, where he dealt with nonprolifera- tion and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) issues. Prior to that, he directed Amnesty International’s terrorism and counterter- rorism program. Mantri has also served on Senator Richard Lugar’s staff as a national security Stimson fellow. He has worked at National Defense University and as a consultant to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program and the Carnegie Corporation. He is married to a Foreign Service officer and in addition to Chisinau, he has worked overseas with the Department of State in Bucharest. He is a graduate of Tufts University’s Fletcher AFSA/GEMMADVORAK School of Law and Diplo- macy and Warwick Univer- sity in the United Kingdom. FAREWEL L We say farewell to Shannon Mizzi, editorial assistant for The Foreign Service Jour- nal. After two years with AFSA, she leaves to begin her graduate studies in law and international relations at Georgetown Univer- sity. We wish her all the best as she embarks on this new and excit- ing adventure. LABOR MANAGEMENT Congratulations to Raeka Safai on her promotion from AFSA staff attorney to dep- uty general counsel at AFSA. AFSA/GEMMADVORAK Jason Snyder, Zlatana Badrich and Raeka Safai in the AFSA Labor Management office. Diplomats Engage Road Scholars at Lake Chautauqua In June, as AFSA celebrates its 20th year of collabora- tion with the Road Scholar lifelong learning organization (formerly known as Elder- hostel), six retired diplomats traveled to western New York state to lead adult students through some of the most interesting, often intractable, issues facing the world today. The joint AFSA-Road Scholar program, “U.S. Foreign Policy for the 21st Century,” brought the dis- tinguished diplomats and some 150 participants from all over the country together on the banks of the beauti- ful Lake Chautauqua, where the venerable Chautauqua Institution, which pioneered adult education in America, has been located since 1874. The June 5-10 program drew on the experiences of Ambassadors (ret.) Ron Neu- mann, Al La Porta, Charles Ray and Charles Ford, along with retired Senior FSOs Molly Williamson and James Pierce, who led lectures and lively discussions on global topics. During 12 lectures across six days, students received a crash course on diplomacy, examining issues from global terrorism and the Israel-Pal- estine conflict to the Koreas, China and even the key role that the Foreign Service plays in the U.S. president’s travels abroad. Participants had the opportunity to get to know some of America’s leading diplomats not only through daily lectures, but also out- side the classroom as lectur- ers and students dined and enjoyed local entertainment together. This informal and highly personal experience is furthered by breakout sessions and panel discus- sions, including the always popular “Spouses Panel,” led by the wives and husbands of lecturing diplomats, that touches on the challenges and rewards of the Foreign Service lifestyle. Participants were also treated to a viewing of the documentary “America’s Dip- lomats,” followed by a panel discussion of the film. AFSA looks forward to continuing this 20-year tradi- tion of providing a unique look behind the scenes of American diplomacy and encourages members to We also congratulate Jason Snyder, who has been promoted to grievance coun- selor from labor manage- ment assistant. And thanks to Zlatana Badrich for her great work as deputy general counsel. She is moving over to a part-time position as an AFSA staff attorney. n Continued on page 69 Geneve Mantri.