Upcoming CFFS Events

The next Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service Luncheon will be held Thursday, April 26, 2012.  The speaker will be Professor of Geological Science Jose Rial.  Professor Rial will talk on the effects of global climate change and about his field of studies in the Arctic Circle.  Additional information regarding venue will be forthcoming.

The CFFS annual summer potluck will be held Saturday, June 2nd at the home of Debbi Schwartz.  Additional information regarding the potluck will be provided at a later date. 

January Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service Luncheon

Speaker Ambassador Ed Brynn with CFFS Members Shirley and Arvin Kramish

 

The Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service's first luncheon of the year was held on January 26th at Captain John's Dockside Restaurant in Chapel Hill.  Ambassador Ed Brynn, outgoing Foreign Affairs Historian at the Department of State and longtime member of the CFFS, spoke about the Foreign Relations of the United States Series (FRUS).  The FRUS are the definitive documentary compilations of the United States' relations with other countries.  The documents have been published since President Abraham Lincoln signed the mandate in 1861, and 2011 therefore marked the 150th anniversary of the FRUS.  Ambassador Brynn told attendees that the State Department's historians are currently working on compiling documents from the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  (The Office of the Historian is required by Congress to work on a period of foreign relations 25 years earlier than the current year, as it is assumed that all relevant information is available at that point and information from formerly classified materials for the most part has been declassified.)