The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2018 49 AFSA NEWS AFSAWelcomes Newest Foreign Service Members ANNOUNC I NG THE 20 1 8 AFSA AWARD WI NNERS Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy: Ambassador (ret.) Ronald E. Neumann Constructive Dissent: Ambassador (ret.) Thomas A. Shannon Jr. (Christian A. Herter Award for Senior Foreign Service Officers) Roshni Nirody (WilliamR. Rivkin Award for Mid-Level Foreign Service Officers) Elena C. Augustine (W. Averell Harriman Award for Entry-Level Officers) Joseph Conners (F. Allen ‘Tex’ Harris Award for Foreign Service Specialists) Exemplary Performance: Ambassador (ret.) Patricia A. Butenis (Award for Achievement and Contributions to the Association) Margaret Kennett (Nelson B. Delavan Award for Office Management Specialists) JohnWarner (Avis Bohlen Award for Community Liaison Officers) Marisol Garcia (M. Juanita Guess Award for Eligible Family Members) David Bargueño and Kelly Billingsley (Mark Palmer Award for the Advancement of Democracy) Runners-Up: Maria Valentine (Delavan Award) Judith Martin (Bohlen Award) Lori Doutrich and Karen Fifield (Guess Award) Full coverage of the AFSA awards ceremony, profiles of the award recipients and an interview with Amb. Neumann will appear in the December issue of The Foreign Service Journal. Please join us for the awards ceremony on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. at the Department of State. n On Aug. 9 AFSA hosted a luncheon for the 89-member 148th specialist class. Then on Aug. 15 AFSA hosted the 194th A-100 class—with 82 mem- bers, it’s the largest A-100 class we’ve seen in a long while at AFSAHQ. We are thrilled to have such a large group of newly minted officers and specialists joining our ranks at last.We had a wonderful group of table hosts including such lumi- naries as Ambassador (ret.) Linda Thomas-Greenfield; Ambassador (ret.) Jay Anania; Mette Beecroft, one of the founders of the Family Liaison Office; Ambassador (ret.) John Blaney; AFSASecre- tary Ambassador (ret.) Tom Boyatt; and Ambassador (ret.) Lino Gutiérrez. AFSAPresident Ambas- sador Barbara Stephenson welcomed the group and told them stories from her 33-year (so far) career as a diplomat who rose through the ranks as a working mother with a “trail- ing spouse”by her side. AFSAState VP Ken Kero-Mentz talked about the various ways AFSA assists its members throughout the course of their careers, from our daily media digest that helps members stay abreast of important and breaking news in the field of diplomacy to legal advice and assistance. Membership Specialist Ashley Dunn took our guests through some of the benefits they can expect to receive as members, such as discounts on Zipcar and subscriptions to The Economist and The Atlan- tic. And they all took away copies of The Foreign Service Journal . More than 100 of our luncheon guests have already signed up to join AFSA. Welcome to the Foreign Service! n AFSA/DONNAGORMAN AFSA/DONNAGORMAN AFSA Membership Specialist Ashley Dunn discusses member benefits. AFSA State VP Ken Kero-Mentz addresses the 194th A-100 class.