The prestigious ACE recognizes the important role of U.S. businesses in advancing good corporate governance and democratic principles worldwide. The award honors exemplary business practices, corporate social responsibility, and innovation in a company’s overseas operations.

DanceMotion USASM sends American dance companies overseas to engage with audiences and communities, especially underserved youth, through dance and a variety of other means. DanceMotion USASM builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power” diplomacy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched the Women in Public Service Project – a new initiative to increase the number of women in public service at the local, national, and international levels. A partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the Seven Sisters Colleges of Barnard College

Clinton - with security and journalists in tow - went barefoot at the famous Shwedagon Pagoda and rang a bell with a giant wooden mallet as onlookers cheered. It was the type of public diplomacy that is Clinton's forte as a former politician, although many of those snapping her photo were tourists and she had little direct contact with local Burmese.

In its latest strategic move, billed smART Power, the State Department is sending abroad on Americans’ behalf not more Foreign Service officers but a cadre of elite artists. Their mission: to use visual arts as a medium for winning the hearts and minds of foreign populations all over the globe.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Ripken Baseball Inc. announced today that Baseball Hall-of-Famer and Public Diplomacy Envoy Cal Ripken, Jr. and Major League Baseball standout Brady Anderson, a former center fielder with the Baltimore Orioles, will travel to Japan November 8-16, 2011 as sports diplomats.

Turkey’s public diplomacy has gained increasing prominence in the news over the past month, even in the weeks prior to the earthquake that hit Eastern Turkey. Changes in the political landscape have resulted in significant changes to Turkey’s international standing in the world. The theme that dominated news from Turkey’s Today’s Zaman throughout the month of October was this Muslim-majority nation with a secular democratic government and a vibrant Islamic culture.