Archive - 2013

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Chaired by Senator Ed Markey, this Wednesday morning was a love feast for Carrie Hessler Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) at her Nomination Hearing. However, most of the hugs and kisses went to Harris Wofford, the former senator, and also a chief architect of the Peace Corps, one of the famous early Mad Men of the Peace Corps who in 1960 met with Shriver in the Mayflower Hotel and hatched out the idea of the agency. So much was the tribute to Wofford that at the close of the Hearing, Markey asked for a round of applause for Wofford, saying the Committee was ‘honored to have him there” to nominate Carrie for the job as Director of the Peace Corps. Harris even got a kiss from Carrie! Harris, for a man in his mid-80s, was sharp and articulate and, as always, rallying support for . . .

Anne has hit her Kickstarter goal of $15,000. She wrote me, “Lot’s of generous people – friends and strangers – are interested in my Peace Corps Mexico story.  NOW it’s time to shift attention back to the writing and get this book done! However, you can get on-board with this project by reserving an advance-copy of the book and getting an invite to the book launch party this coming year.  Your help will allow me to complete, professionally edit, layout the art and photos, and produce a quality finished product to add to the Peace Corps collection. Here’s the link to checkout our progress and the rewards:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074468560/a-story-of-sustainability-from-south-of-the-border (I had to repost the http to make it work. Anne’s bio: As founder and president of SeeChange, Anne Pellicciotto has 15 years’ experience with systems-level change in diverse environments – from IT transformation to reorganization, new program launch to board alignment. In . . .

Nomination U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Presiding: Senator Menendez Date: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 Time: 10:30 AM Location: Senate Dirksen 419 Webcast: This hearing is scheduled to be live webcast. Please return to this page to view the hearing live at the specified date and time. The Honorable Carolyn Hessler Radelet of Virginia, to be Director of the Peace Corps http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/nomination-11-6-2013

For those who missed this article in the New York Times (10/29/13), it is a must read story about the volunteer work of Bill Staab (Liberia 1963-65).  Thanks to Marnie Mueller ( Ecuador 1963-65) for a ‘heads up.’ Marnie is a runner, by the way, and married to the famous German runner, Fritz Mueller. Bill Staab is an old running friend of Fritz, and Marnie and Fritz have watched Bill over the years as he developed the NYC West Side Runners, a club of primarily working class, hard-laboring immigrants, who after arduous jobs, run long daily workouts in Central and Prospect Parks in preparation for the New York City Marathon. Be prepared to be incredibly moved by this story. Again, thanks to Marnie for letting me know about this article and about the work that Bill Staab has done. Marathon as Melting Pot By LINDSAY CROUSE On a recent foggy Sunday in Central Park, . . .

The Senate confirmation hearing for the nomination of Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet to become the next Director has finally been scheduled. It will take place on Wednesday, November 6 at 10:30 am. It is a nomination that we fully support. Some background on Carrie. She and her husband Steve (they spent their honeymoon in Peace Corps Training, and can you believe it: they are STILL married!) were PCVs in Western Samoa from 1981-83. She taught high school and helped design a national public awareness campaign on disaster preparedness. . After her Peace Corps tour, the couple moved to Boston for graduate school where Carrie got a master’s degree from Harvard School of Public Health in health policy and management. (Her BA in political science is from Boston University.) During her “Boston years” she also worked for the Peace Corps as a Public Affairs Officer in the recruitment office and gave . . .

In the new issue of Foreign Affairs Magazine, the notice that the Council on Foreign Relations is “seeking talented individuals for the Franklin Williams Internship” AGAIN overlooks the fact that Franklin Williams began his international career at the Peace Corps. Williams with Sarge While it does say that Ambassador Williams had a long career of public service, including serving at the American Ambassador to Ghana, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University. He was also, they say, a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations. What it doesn’t say is that Franklin Williams began his ‘international’ career at the Peace Corps in 1961, and was at HQ as Chief of the Division of Private Organizations, and then head of the African Region. In 1965 LBJ appointed Williams the first black representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, from this position he would . . .