Retirements

Retirements | July 2020

Civil Service Batt, Eugene P.Blackwood, Ann S.Campbell, Michael A.Cole-Misch, Sara A.Crews, Earnest C.Dehm, Kathleen A.Douglass, William H.Edwards, Roger L.Park, KookheePrice, Patricia V.Rudd, Lisa J.Spencer, Aida L.Via Aaron, Susan M.Wood, Michael T.Zafke, Larry R. Foreign Service Brown, Judith...

Creating a culture of inclusion

By Andrea Cilliers  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 was a monumental step in recognizing and protecting a segment of citizens whose civil rights had been disregarded and discounted. Despite various social movements...
The 4,905-passenger cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, which is part of the Royal Caribbean International fleet, is one of 29 luxury liners that the Department of State personnel across Australia tracked during the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The vessel is pictured here docked near the landmark Sydney Harbor Bridge at Circular Quay, Sydney, Jan. 2. Photo by Paul Giblin

Sea Odyssey

By Paul Giblin When the coronavirus pandemic washed over the globe, U.S. consular staff members across Australia located and tracked thousands of Americans who were at sea on cruise ships as governments worldwide closed their...
Reasonable accommodations can include hardware such as keyboards, magnifiers, or computer mice to assist employees with disabilities. Photo by Roberta Mather

Remote Accessibility during COVID-19

By Rich McCarthy   When the Department of State moved to maximum telework, many employees faced a new challenge: figuring out how to complete their tasks while working remotely. The Bureau of Global Talent Management’s Office...
When designing the main entrance pavilion for the new U.S. Embassy in Oslo, the permit authorities asked OBO’s architects to add way-finding guides for low-sighted persons who use long white canes. There is no such requirement in either the ADA or the ABA, however, OBO successfully completed the project. Photo by Ron Tomasso

OBO’s Barrier-Free Accessibility Program

by Ron Tomasso Way-finding guides, an accessible feature that assists low-sighted individuals who use long white canes, were added by OBO to the design of the entrance of the new U.S. embassy in Oslo. Photo...

Singing amid the pandemic

Photo by Walid Zafar

Video Captioning @ State celebrates fifth anniversary

Video Captioning @ State (VC@S) celebrated their fifth anniversary as an integral Department of State program, May 2020. The Department produces or uses thousands of videos per year for internal and external audiences, both...
Staff members from Consulate Azores virtually attend a meet-and-greet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. Ambassador to Portugal George Glass (center), hosted at Embassy Lisbon, Dec. 5, 2019. Photo courtesy of Embassy Portugal

Consulate Azores celebrates 225 years of diplomacy

By Kathryn Hammond Portugal’s Azores islands, an archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, celebrates the 225th anniversary as the oldest continually operating U.S. consulate in the world, July 7. Opened in 1795...
Ben Sides, the Disability Action Group’s communications officer and Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) special agent, is shown in front of the DS Chicago Field Office in late 2018. Sides uses an above knee prosthetic for his daily work and appreciates the accommodations provided under the ADA. Photo by Jeff Johnson

The ADA at 30

Ben Sides, the Disability Action Group’s communications officer and Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) special agent, is shown in front of the DS Chicago Field Office in late 2018. Sides uses an above knee...

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Office Spotlight

Making a Statement

The image is split down the middle with the "Making a Statement" logo in white on a blue background on the left, followed by the name Jennifer Tierney. Tierney smiles on the right.