By Jennifer Schuett
Situated in the heart of Burma, Mandalay is the country’s last royal capital, a bustling economic hub in the Indo-Pacific region and the site of an Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) project. Through the AFCP—an initiative sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Education and...
The Orientation Division within the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has partnered with HR’s Office of Continuity Counseling to facilitate employee-centric mentor dialogue sessions for new Foreign Service officers in orientation training. Most recently, members from the 99th A-100 class returned to FSI to mentor the 199th A-100 class. These...
By Eric Schoennauer and Tony Mazzoccoli
The Department of State’s strategic planning team agrees that there is no cookie-cutter approach to implementing a strategy. Missions come in many shapes and sizes, relationships with host countries vary widely and leaders all have their own styles and unique abilities. Increasingly, post leaders...
The South Asian American Employee Association (SAAEA), one of the Department’s 14 employee affinity groups, celebrated their 10-year anniversary with a cultural celebration, Aug. 1, in Washington. Moshtayeen Ahmad and Julisara Mathew, president and vice president of SAAEA, led a packed auditorium through a dynamic program that included welcome...
The Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (DG) Carol Z. Perez met with Department of State students at the National Defense University (NDU) to discuss professional development opportunities and support for the Department’s high-performing and agile workforce. Perez outlined some of her initiatives and...
By Caroline D’Angelo and James Vaughn
The 2019 Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) Award went to Embassy Canberra for their sustainability leadership. Post’s Canberra Greening Initiative (CGI) did everything from composting with worm bins and creating a trash-to-art competition to collecting rainwater and installing solar panels. CGI reduced post’s environmental footprint,...
By Bianca Blanchard
The Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (DG) Carol Z. Perez has been visiting domestic offices and posts abroad to hear directly from employees. These conversations have both inspired and informed her innovation priorities, which focus on taking care of the Department...
By Matthew Asada
In May, the Department of State celebrated Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in partnership with two of the Department’s employee affinity groups: the Asian-American Foreign Affairs Association (AAFAA) and South Asian-American Employee Association. More than 400 people attended events throughout the month in Washington, D.C.
The...
By George Mesthos
In 1819, American diplomacy in Florence got off to a rough start. U.S. Consul Thomas Appleton at Livorno designated Florentine Giacomo “James” Ombrosi to represent the United States interests in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; however, the Grand Duke refused to recognize his credentials....
The Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a valuable Department of State program that connects students with projects that allow them to gain experience while advancing the work of the government on multiple fronts. This year the program will feature nearly 3,000 internships from...