Archive - April 2017

1
R. Matt McKinney new White House Liaison at the Peace Corps
2
Day Four Of Innocence, The Peace Corps in 1961-1962
3
Day Three Of Innocence, The Peace Corps in 1961-1962
4
One PCV’s Story (Afghanistan)
5
Day Two Of Innocence, the Peace Corps in 1961-1962
6
The Peace Corps community mourns the tragic loss of two serving Volunteers
7
Former Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan leaves HWS with a bang (and Bill Clinton)
8
Days Of Innocence, The Peace Corps in 1961-1962
9
RPCV Helen Lowman (Thailand) named President and CEO of Keep America Beautiful
10
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Netflix CEO RPCV Reed Hastings to discuss Spirit of Service and Idealism
11
Peter Hessler’s “Talk Like an Egyptian” article in current New Yorker
12
Protests greet Charles Murray (Thailand) at Indiana
13
RPCV Ned Butler (Panama) gave a talk about the Guna (Kuna) tribe of the San Blas Islands
14
NPCA endorses Senator Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) budget for 15,000 Peace Corps Volunteers
15
Kennedy Library, NPCA and BARPCV commemorate JFK 100

R. Matt McKinney new White House Liaison at the Peace Corps

  PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Special Assistant, Governor’s Office of Appointments >Dates EmployedJan 2015 – Apr 2017 Employment Duration2 yrs 4 mos • Responsible for vetting of Senior and Mid-Level Political Appointments throughout all agencies in State Government. • Assist in the recruiting efforts by mining the database for appropriate candidates. • Responsible for the management of the database, website application, and website design. • Assist in the interviewing of High Level candidates and analyzing potential ethics problems. See lessSee less about Special Assistant, Governor’s Office of Appointments, Governor’s Office of Appointments Personnel Assistant Company NameGovernor-Elect Hogan Transition Dates EmployedNov 2014 – Jan 2015 Employment Duration3 mos Hogan for Governor, Montgomery County Victory Director Company NameMaryland Republican Party Dates EmployedAug 2014 – Nov 2014 Employment Duration4 mos See descriptionSee more about Hogan for Governor, Montgomery County Victory Director, Maryland Republican Party Campaign Manager Company NameBrett King for State Senate District 17 Dates EmployedMar . . .

Read More

One PCV’s Story (Afghanistan)

  Baktash Ahadi was born in Kabul in 1981. His family had to flee during the Soviet Invasion in 1984. After spending over a year and half in Pakistan between refugee camps and makeshift homes, his family was given asylum in the United States and started their new life in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Baktash started his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mozambique from 2005 to 2007. He then went into management consulting with Booz Allen Hamilton before serving as a military translator in Afghanistan for three years. His experience not only brought him closer to his roots, but also instilled a sense of responsibility to educate others on the realities on the ground in Afghanistan. Baktash joined FRAME BY FRAME as an ambassador for that same reason — to shed light on the country’s complexities through human stories. Here is RPCV Baktash Ahadi’s story. — JC     MY STORY . . .

Read More

The Peace Corps community mourns the tragic loss of two serving Volunteers

  Peace Corps service is not without real risks, as these two tragedies demonstrate. • CBS4News in Denver, Colorado reported on the death of PCV Cody Oser in Panama, recently. Cody Oser was an Engineering Graduate of Colorado State University. Oser’s father, Steven, tells CBS4 there is “absolutely no foul play.”His son’s body was found in the shallow water of a creek. “He was going down by a river and going across some boulders and he slipped,” said his father.” In a news release, acting Peace Corps director Sheila Crowley said, “His impressive engineering skills made him stand out as a volunteer because he dedicated himself to working with communities around the world to find solutions to their technological needs. His passing is a profound loss for the Peace Corps community as we mourn along with his family and friends.” The news report concluded: “The family is already starting an effort . . .

Read More

Former Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan leaves HWS with a bang (and Bill Clinton)

  Mark Gearan, who worked on the nomination of Bill Clinton and then as Senior Staff in the White House before becoming Director of the Peace Corps in 1995, has asked his friend and the former president to be the commencement speaker at Hobart and William Smith College this spring. Mark D. Gearan, the longest-serving president in the history of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, has already announced that he will conclude his duties as president at the end of the 2016-17 academic year. At the time of his appointment in 1999, Gearan was one of the youngest college presidents in the nation and a “non-traditional” choice given his background as Director of the Peace Corps and White House senior staff member. When he concludes his presidency in 2017, he will have served for 18 years, leading the Colleges through a period of unprecedented growth. Gearan, with help from his . . .

Read More

RPCV Helen Lowman (Thailand) named President and CEO of Keep America Beautiful

  Keep America Beautiful announced on April 11, 2017 that Helen Lowman (Thailand 1988-91), who served as an appointee of President Barack Obama at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and with the Peace Corps, has been named the organization’s new president and CEO. She will assume the role on May 1. From 2010 to 2017, Lowman served as an appointee of the President of the United States in the senior foreign service and the senior executive service. Most recently, she was Director-Individual and Community Preparedness at FEMA in Washington, D.C., overseeing programs to increase citizen and community preparedness while encouraging disaster and crisis resilience. Previously, she served in a variety of roles with the Peace Corps, directing Recruitment Office in DC as an Associate Director. She earlier served as Regional Director-Europe, Middle East and Asia, Peace Corps’ largest geographic region. Earlier in her career, Lowman managed environmental education events . . .

Read More

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Netflix CEO RPCV Reed Hastings to discuss Spirit of Service and Idealism

  Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, who was briefly a director of the Peace Corps (1991-92), and RPCV Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (Swaziland 1983-86), will reflect on their experiences as leaders in government and business and discuss the need for a spirit of service and idealism. The talk will be moderated by Ann Compton, former White House correspondent for ABC News. The discussion, “Inspiring a Sense of Service and Idealism,” will highlight the evolution of the Peace Corps and how its ideals remain relevant today—five decades after its founding.  The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 18, in the Coolidge Auditorium on the ground level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.  Tickets are not needed, but an RSVP is required to specialevents@loc.gov. In recognition of the centennial of the birth of President John F. Kennedy, . . .

Read More

Protests greet Charles Murray (Thailand) at Indiana

Tuesday students rallied outside as Charles Murray (Thailand 1965-67), the controversial co-author of The Bell Curve, gave a talk at Indiana University at Bloomington. Scores of faculty members signed an open letter calling the invitation to Murray — by the campus chapter of the American Enterprise Institute — “highly irresponsible and detrimental to the university community.” Police were visible outside the building where Murray spoke. Students shared on Twitter some of the signs and chalkings that opposed his visit. Murray’s talk took place without disruptions, although chants from those outside could be heard. The event was open to all Indiana students and faculty members, but attendees needed to reserve tickets in advance.

Read More

RPCV Ned Butler (Panama) gave a talk about the Guna (Kuna) tribe of the San Blas Islands

  Thanks to the ‘heads up’ from Dan Campbell (El Salvador 1974-77) • Former volunteer talks about changes in Panamanian tribe Mount Desert Islander (Bar Harbor, Maine) March 31, 2017     BAR HARBOR, MAINE — Ned Butler presented a talk and slide show about the Guna (Kuna) tribe of the San Blas Islands in Panama when he visited the Jesup Memorial Library on Friday, April 7. When Butler was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1960s, he spent time working on tribal development projects with members of the tribe. His talk explored the history and development of the Guna tribe over the past 50 years. Butler covered the history of the tribe as well as why the tribe decided to invite the Peace Corps to the region to help with tribal community development. He also highlighted three of the projects that the Peace Corps has worked on and the role that . . .

Read More

NPCA endorses Senator Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) budget for 15,000 Peace Corps Volunteers

  Dear friends, The National Peace Corps Association is proud to endorse “Rethinking the Battlefield,” Senator Murphy’s alternative budget proposal representing a powerful vision for American leadership in International Affairs. This proposal includes funding for 15,000 Peace Corps Volunteers by 2022. We are forwarding you NPCA’s press release in the hopes that you can push it out into the public media space (print and online), either yourself or through your media contacts. And if you can help NPCA build our media contact list, we’d appreciate it even more! Just reply to this email or contact us at news@peacecorpsconnect.org. Though the vision of 15,000 volunteers is an exciting one, we know it will be an uphill battle in the next few months just to maintain level funding of $410 million for Peace Corps and $60 billion for International Affairs. For this reason, we need all the media support we can get! With . . .

Read More

Kennedy Library, NPCA and BARPCV commemorate JFK 100

  JFK100 MAY 27, 2017 @ 2:00 PM EST John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Columbia Point, Boston, MA The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is proud to partner with National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and Boston Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (BARPCV) to host the Peace Corps community at a centennial commemoration of the birth of President Kennedy. Since President Kennedy founded the Peace Corps in 1961, over 225,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps Volunteers in 141 countries around the world. Peace Corps Volunteers embody core American values of cooperation, understanding, and peace. And beyond service, Volunteers return home to carry out the “Third Goal” of Peace Corps – to promote a better understanding of the countries in which they served. Whether as educators, entrepreneurs, humanitarian aid workers, public officials, community leaders, and fellow citizens, RPCVs continue to live by these ideals and share the . . .

Read More

Copyright © 2022. Peace Corps Worldwide.