Author - John Coyne

New Options for Health Insurance Coverage After Peace Corps Service [The Peace Corps posted on December 13, 2013 this news.] The Peace Corps is committed to the health of all Volunteers. Like millions of Americans, returned Peace Corps Volunteers will now have new options for high-quality, affordable health care after their service through the Affordable Care Act. Since the mid-1990s, Peace Corps has made health insurance available to returned Peace Corps Volunteers and paid the first month’s premium under a program currently called AfterCorps. AfterCorps provides limited benefit coverage intended to help provide a transition period after service. This won’t change: The Peace Corps will continue to pay for the first month of limited health insurance after Peace Corps service for returning Volunteers, at no cost to them. Following the first month of Peace Corps-paid insurance, Volunteers who leave service on or after January 1, 2014, will have the option to . . .

Thierry “Rambo” Ntoutoume Nzue was convicted for the 1998 murder of 37-year-old Karen Phillips. A Gabonese criminal court sentenced Ntoutoume Nzue to life in prison. Phillips served in Oyem, an agricultural city of about 40,000 in the coastal African nation of Gabon. She worked as an agro-forestry volunteer, helping local farmers market their agricultural products. “She just loved helping people,” said Richard Phillips, Karen’s father. “That’s the type of person she was. Karen was a doer and a giver.” Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Phillips worked in Atlanta as a fundraiser for the international development organization, CARE. A native of Delaware County, Pa., Karen received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Villanova University in 1982, and a master’s degree in business administration from Fordham University in 1989. “There is nothing harder for this agency than losing a volunteer, and after many years, I wholeheartedly hope the Phillips family can . . .

The Peace Corps Announces Top Volunteer-Producing States and Metropolitan Areas for 2013 Vermont reclaims top spot among states with the most volunteers per capita, also ranks among top metro areas per capita WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 11, 2013 – The Peace Corps today released the 2013 rankings of the top volunteer-producing states and metropolitan areas across the country. Vermont reclaimed the No. 1 spot among states with the most Peace Corps volunteers per capita with 7.8 volunteers for every 100,000 residents, a position it last held in 2010. Vermont also ranked among the top metro areas per capita. The Burlington-South Burlington metro area ranked second behind Ithaca, N.Y., where volunteers accounted for 11.7 of every 100,000 residents. California, New York and Texas continue to be the Peace Corps’ top states, and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana held their positions as Peace Corps’ top metro areas. “Americans from all across . . .

Dec 4, 2013 Press Release Washington, DC – Congressman Joe Kennedy applauded today’s passage of the Peace Corps Commemoration Act (H.R. 915) by the House Committee on Natural Resources. Kennedy introduced this cost-free legislation in February to authorize the non-profit Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work on federal land in Washington, D.C. The Foundation is responsible for any costs associated with the commemorative work. Last month, Congressman Kennedy testified before the Committee on Natural Resources in support of the bill, which passed today by unanimous consent. “At a time when the international community was fractured by the Cold War, the founding of the Peace Corps reminded America of the best it had to offer: service to others for the common cause of global peace, mutual understanding, prosperity, and progress,” said Congressman Kennedy.  “Commemoratives in our nation’s capital celebrate the seminal moments in American history, and it is . . .

[Thanks to Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) for the ‘heads up’ on this item.] by Jason Miller Federal News Radio The Peace Corps is moving toward a lightweight, agile technology environment. And one way it’s doing that is by working differently with the business side of the house. “It used to be that people didn’t like working with us so at the very last minute they’d call us and say, ‘we need technology.’ That’s changed,” said Dorine Andrews, the Peace Corps chief information officer. “Now we are leading the sessions to redesign the business so that it allows the business people to make the decisions. I’m really excited about our role in front end business process reengineering.” The effort to empower the business folks isn’t new. Andrews started it when she became the Peace Corps CIO in 2010. But more than three years later, she said the priorities reflect just how . . .

[Thanks to Joanne Roll (Colombia 1963-65) for the ‘heads up’ on this item.] April 28, 2011 — The Peace Corps is modernizing the last of its global infrastructure networks this year and then it’s time for a break…sort of. Dorine Andrews says the 50-year-old agency will take a step back and reassess the status and health of its IT infrastructure and systems. Andrews, who’s been CIO at the agency for about nine months, said her staff of about 70 federal employees at the headquarters in Washington will start looking at back end administrative systems and changing the agency’s overall strategic approach to IT. Andrews said the Peace Corps is starting a pilot with Microsoft’s SharePoint software to move paper processes to electronic-something she said should have been done years ago. The end goal, she said, is to move the agency’s email system into the cloud and reduce the amount of . . .

Barcelona is worth a visit just to see the works of Catalonia’s Modernist architect Antoni Gaudí   (1852-1926). Gaudí was born close to Barcelona and was sent there at seventeen to study  architecture. His teachers found him ‘difficult’ because of his ‘strange’ ways of treating structural shapes. That didn’t stop him. Gaudí is noted for his reflection of nature in his designs, from curved construction stones, twisted iron sculptures, and brightly colored tiles arranged in mosaic patterns. Among the 14 keys works of Gaudí in Barcelona, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, is the most famous. It is, in fact, the No.1 most visited attraction in Barcelona. This giant Basilica that has been under construction since 1883 and it’s not expected to be completed for another 30 to 80 years. Consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in November 2010, it is a synthesis of Gaudí’s architectural theory and practice. Gaudí worked . . .

Christmas in Paris? Well, if not . . . what about a calendar of Paris so you can live the City of Lights everyday? That’s what Mike McCaskey (Ethiopia 1965-67) decided to do. Mike, who has his PhD from Case Western Reserve, and has taught at UCLA and Harvard Business Schools, never played for the Chicago Bears, but he was the Chairmen of the organization and now has produced a beautiful Paris calendar for 2014 called “My Paris.” I asked Mike how all this came about and he emailed me that, “The calendar was a way to use some of my favorite photos of Paris. I love walking around the city and taking pictures, often of places or moments that are out-of-the-way. Looking at other calendars I couldn’t find one that exactly worked the way I wanted it to. “My calendar should fit easily into a briefcase or folder (so . . .