A Celebration of Cultural Diplomacy

Our Excellence in Cultural Diplomacy Awards capped off a joyful awards ceremony at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) on October 23. In her opening remarks, State Dept Assistant Secretary Lee Satterfield reported that ECA enjoys strong bipartisan support for the role it plays in building relationships around the world. Before handing over the proceedings to him, she bestowed a Superior Honor Award on Senior Officer Scott Weinhold.
Assistant Secretary Lee Satterfield bestows a Superior Honor Award on Scott Weinhold.

This year, ECA and the Roth Foundation celebrated ten exemplary individuals from four continents. We’ll be highlighting the achievements of each in a social media series starting on Monday, Oct. 28. Follow us if you don’t already get our posts!

We were very pleased that five of this year’s awardees could join us in person for the ceremony and ensuing luncheon. Jeff Barrus won the Lois Roth Award, Honorable Mention, for a Foreign Service Officer. Alison Moylan won this year’s Ilchman-Richardson Award for an ECA administrator. Diler Hamad, from Iraqi Kurdistan, won the Gill Jacot-Guillarmod Award for a mid-career Locally Employed Staff member. And Rasa Baukuviene (Lithuania) and Ana Ferreira (Angola) won Jodie Lewinsohn Career Achievement Awards for Locally Employed Staff. In addition, photos of the five who could not join us were screened at the ceremony while their citations were read.

Left to right: LRF Chair Skyler Arndt-Briggs, Ana Ferreira, Diler Hamad, Rasa Baukuviene and LRF Vice Chair Anne Barbaro

After the ceremony, the awardees and other guests were invited to the Roth Foundation’s annual luncheon at the DACOR-Bacon House. Among our wonderful guests, we were particularly excited that three former winners of our awards for Excellence in Cultural Diplomacy were able to join us this year! David Plack won the Ilchman-Richardson Award in 2017 and is now a Senior Policy Adviser at ECA. Julia Fendrick, now retired, won our Lois Roth Award in 2013. And Nan Bell, also retired, has the distinction of having won the very first Lois Roth Award ever given!

In the foreground, left-to-right: Julia Fendrick, David Plack, Nan Bell, Jeff Barrus

The ECA awards ceremony and the luncheon we host following it are a highlight of the Lois Roth Foundation’s program year. We owe the success of this program—from bringing in nominations and serving on the jury, to making arrangements for the ceremony and luncheon—to Anne Barbaro, the Roth Foundation’s Vice Chair and Cultural Diplomacy Lead. A former Foreign Service Officer herself, Anne thus continues her work on behalf of cultural diplomats and cross-cultural dialogue on a people-to-people basis in retirement. We cannot thank her enough.

Vice Chair Anne Barbaro welcomes our award winners

Please join us in congratulating this year’s group of exemplary cultural diplomats.

If you would like to help the Roth Foundation continue its Cultural Diplomacy awards into the future, please consider donating today. We would also be happy to talk with you about setting up a bequest to help fund an award or project that is dearest to your heart!

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