The Foreign Service Journal, November 2016

62 NOVEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS AFSAWelcomes 143rd FS Specialist Class AFSA/GEMMADVORAK Looking to the Future: AFSA Partners with UTAustin The American Foreign Service Association is pleased to announce a new partner- ship with the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs to conduct a benchmarking study identifying best practices in the field of diplomacy. AFSA plans to use the findings from the year- long exercise to set the agenda for its advocacy— on the Hill and with the new administration—of a strong professional For- eign Service that, for the sake of America’s people, interests and values, must remain the largest and most influential diplomatic service in the world. Issues being explored include how other diplomatic services recruit, train, assign, develop and evaluate their people. In September, 15 graduate students from UTAustin’s LBJ School started the year-long project under the tutelage of faculty advisers LBJ Dean Robert Hutchings and Professor Jeremi Suri. Hutchings, a national secu- rity and foreign policy expert, served as special adviser to Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and as dip- lomat in residence at the WoodrowWilson School of Public and Interna- tional Affairs at Princeton University. He and Prof. Suri co-edited Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy (Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2015). Students will travel toWashington, D.C., in December to meet with a variety of stakeholders, including veteran diplomats, experts from other countries’ diplomatic services, foreign policy practitioners and lawmakers. These conversa- tions will feed into the group’s overall findings. In addition, AFSA Presi- dent Ambassador Barbara Stephenson will participate in the 2017 Austin Forum on Diplomacy and Statecraft. The forum is designed to bring together policy-ori- ented scholars in the field of diplomacy and rising diplo- mats from the United States and other countries, and its results will also feed into the study. AFSA looks forward to sharing the group’s find- ings and will keep members informed of our progress throughout the year. n —Maria C. Livingston, Director of Professional Policy Issues Seal of the University of Texas at Austin FAIRUSE,HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/W/INDEX.PHP?CURID=51061511 On Sept. 29, the 143rd Foreign Service Specialist class attended briefings at AFSA headquarters on policy issues and EEO and diversity matters. A luncheon was hosted by AFSA President Ambas- sador Barbara Stephenson, who welcomed the 63 class members and shared her experiences of the Foreign Service. While many of the class completed membership paperwork, State Vice President Angie Bryan (pictured speaking) gave a presentation to the group about AFSA’s functions as a professional association and labor union and explained the many ways that AFSA assists, protects and advocates for its mem- bers. n