Alumna Receives American Foreign Service Association’s Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent

RivkinAward
Ambassador Charles Rivkin (center) presents the dissent award named for his late father to Thomas T. Wong, Christina T. Le, Cecilia S. Choi and Mariju L. Bofill - current and former presidents of the Asian American Foreign Affairs Association. Photo courtesy of the American Foreign Service Association.

 

American University Washington College of Law congratulates Mariju L. Bofill ’01 who recently received the prestigious William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent. At a ceremony held at the Department of State’s Dean Acheson Auditorium on June 20, Bofill, along with Cecilia S. Choi, Christina T. Le, and Thomas T. Wong were honored for their extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage and constructive dissent.

From the release:

AFSA’s dissent awards, which have been given out since 1968, are unique in the federal government. The awards publicly recognize individuals who have demonstrated the intellectual courage to challenge the system from within, to question the status quo and take a stand, no matter the sensitivity of the issue or the consequences of their actions.

Bofill, Le, Choi, and Wong are honored for their continued successes in improving the transparency and clarity of State Department assignment restrictions, and in creating an appeals mechanism to review cases. Recognizing that the lack of clarity and transparency in assignment restrictions hinders the department’s efforts to utilize its diverse workforce and denies employees the opportunities to apply their language and cultural assets to advance the department’s mission, the former and current presidents of AAFAA consulted with the American Foreign Service Association, lawyers, and senior department leaders in an effort to work within the system to advocate for change.

Click for AFSA’s full release.

Mariju L. Bofill is currently the information officer at the U.S. Consulate General in São Paulo, Brazil. She began her career at the Department of State in 2001 as a presidential management fellow (PMF) and joined the Foreign Service in 2004. Prior to joining the State Department, Bofill worked as a law clerk for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and was a policy analyst at the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium.