The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 62 DECEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Awards Honor Foreign Service Excellence and Constructive Dissent AFSA’s 51st annual awards ceremony took place Oct. 16 in the Department of State’s Dean Acheson Auditorium. More than 200 guests gath- ered to recognize the win- ners of this year’s awards for outstanding performance and constructive dissent in the Foreign Service, and to honor the recipient of the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. AFSA presented 11 awards in all. Profiles of the winners begin on page 35. Ambassador Eric Rubin, president of AFSA, served as emcee of the ceremony before a distinguished AFSA/JOAQUINSOSA AFSA 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 on Oct. 16. audience that featured four former winners of AFSA’s Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award, as well as many current senior officials from the State Department. “AFSA takes great pride in being able to honor the dedication, patriotism and sheer excellence of the professional career Foreign Service,” Amb. Rubin said in his opening remarks. He also acknowledged the passing of three for- mer AFSA Lifetime Award recipients over the past year: President George H.W. Bush, Ambassador Lowell Bruce Laingen and Senator Richard Lugar. Award recipients gave brief remarks on accepting their awards. Many had fam- ily and friends in the audi- ence. The ceremony was followed by a champagne reception in the Delegates’ Lounge. AFSA congratulates this year’s award recipients! Lifetime Contributions Amb. Rubin presented this year’s Lifetime Contri- butions Award to Ambassa- dor (ret.) Herman “Hank” Cohen for his 38-year For- eign Service career, his con- tributions to strengthening the career Foreign Service, his work between 1969 and 1974 to help AFSA become a union and his consulting, lecturing and writing about African issues in retirement. In accepting the award, Amb. Cohen talked about his long service in Africa, and the role that AFSA plays in promoting the U.S. Foreign Service. “I would like to say a few words about the American Foreign Service Association,” he said. “AFSA has been in existence as a professional organization for about 100 years. AFSA has been the official collective bargaining