The NatCom Newsletter is Out

The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Update, Volume 4, Issue 1 Winter/Spring 2008 has recently been published.

In This Issue:

• Comments from the Executive Director
• The U.S. World Heritage Tentative List
• International Year for the Planet Earth
• World Press Freedom Prize Awarded to Mexican Reporter
• President Bush Sends to Congress for Ratification the UNESCO Anti- Doping in Sports Convention
• Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI)
• 179th UNESCO Executive Board
• U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship Initial Recipients and Next Announcement
• U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Annual Meeting
• U.S. Museums Project Symposium
• Director-General’s Consultation with European and North American National Commissions
• UNESCO Youth@the Crossroads: A Future Without Violent Radicalization Symposium
• Water Forum and Director General Matsuura DC Visit
• UNESCO Job Vacancies

Americans Still Underrepresented on UNESCO Staff

These data provided by the State Department indicate that there are still too few Americans on the staff of UNESCO. As a result, Americans have unusual opportunities to join UNESCO, and will enjoy unusual support of their government in efforts to do so.

UNESCO uses a formula to balance staffing from its member nations. According to the formula, a minimum of 46 and maximum of 76 U.S. citizens should work for UNESCO. The targeted date to meet the minimum employee level is 2010. Two important avenues to increase employment of American citizens in UNESCO are:

1. The Young Professional Program –YPP (for under represented states)
2. The Associate Expert Program - extrabudgetarily funded

2008 U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Annual Meeting

The minutes of the May meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO have been published online. The summary of the meeting includes those who attended, matters discussed, and conclusions reached.

The minutes are available in PDF format. To view the PDF file, you will need to download, at no cost, the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

-- 07/03/08 Meeting Minutes

Alexander Zemek new Executive Director of the NatCom

Alex Zemek has been officially appointed Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

In September 2004, Alexander Zemek began service as Deputy Executive-Director of the National Commission. Before joining the State Department, he worked for the Department of Defense 2002-2004, where he helped with cabinet affairs, with the startup and management of the Defense Business Board, an advisory council of private sector senior executives created by Secretary Rumsfeld, and
with managing and staffing the Department's 63 federal advisory boards and commissions. During his last year in Defense, he served in Iraq with the Coalition Provisional Authority as both Special Assistant to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III and interim Director of Personnel.

He joined the government after some years in the private sector, where he worked as a securities trader for Heartland Securities Corporation. He also taught high school in his hometown of Tolland, Connecticut.

He holds an honors degree in history from Yale University, where he captained the cross country team, and a graduate certificate in national security studies from the National Defense University. As a photographer, he has held many gallery shows, for example an exhibit in Connecticut highlighting his life in a small village in Kenya in 1998. He maintains his distance running and is an avid traveler who has visited 45 of the 50 US states and 35 foreign countries. He
lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Larry Seaquist's New Website

Larry Seaquist, long time member of the Americans for UNESCO Board of Directors, has created a new website in his quest for reelection to the Washington legislature.