Public Diplomacy
At the closing luncheon for the Department of State's TechWomen Initiative today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated the completion of the first-ever TechWomen exchange program and announced the planned launch of a similar initiative next year.
The "TechGirls" initiative will complement the TechWomen program and "will bring teenage girls from the Middle East and North Africa for an intensive month of educational activities here in the United States."
The New York Times published today an AP article critical of the Department of State’s Summer Work Travel (SWT) program. The article focuses on the proposed new SWT regulations, as well as oversight of sponsors by the Department.
On the heels of Tuesday’s Washington Post story that broke the news of her departure from the State Department, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale circulated a departure message to the “PD community” (full text below).
The Washington Post reports that Judith McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, is expected to announce as early as today that she will leave her position at the State Department to return to the private sector. No word has emerged on a replacement for McHale, the Post says.
In her opening remarks at the Second Annual U.S.-China Consultation on People-To-People Exchange, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale outlined three goals for this two-day summit in Washington.
At a luncheon of the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association (PDAA) on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock stressed the importance of people-to-people exchanges and discussed the strategic directions of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
During a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on U.S. international broadcasting yesterday, Ranking Member Russ Carnahan (D-MO) stressed the importance of international exchanges as programs of public diplomacy. Public diplomacy, Carnahan noted, is “a critical and indispensible component of U.S. foreign policy” and “can, and should, also be cost-effective.”
Matt Armstrong, author and publisher of the Public Diplomacy blog MountainRunner.us, was sworn in as new Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy earlier this week.
Armstrong is hired by the Commission as a civil servant on a two-year appointment.
Since its creation in 1940, the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) “has proved remarkably prescient when it comes to guessing who might one day govern the planet,” according to a BBC News article.
The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) “has been changing hearts and minds about America through ‘soft power’ for 60 years,” according to an article featured in the current issue of the Foreign Service Journal.
