jon keeton honored with 2024 o'donnell award
Excerpts from nomination of Jon Keeton submitted by Charles (Chuck) Hobbie.
...Jon has dedicated almost thirty years of his life, in one activity or another of government and public service, to fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and peoples of other countries—including Korea.
In particular a decade of his career of service directly involved Korea: (1) he was the Deputy Country Director and Country Director for Peace Corps Korea for four years (1973-76), and (2) he was the president of Friends of Korea for six years (2008-13).
In these roles Jon was hugely responsible first for perpetuating the O’Donnell Peace Corps legacy of programmatic and cross-cultural excellence in Korea and secondly, at the request of Kevin O’Donnell in 2007, for reinvigorating the activities of Friends of Korea as its president and working to establish with the Korea Foundation and the Korean Government the incredibly successful “revisit” program commencing in 2008.
By way of background, Jon’s service as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) and subsequently as a Peace Corps staff member encompassed far more than his association with Peace Corps Korea. In this regard he was a PCV in Thailand, serving as an elementary school English teacher trainer in a rural province (1965-67). He subsequently was a Peace Corps recruiter (1967-68), Associate Peace Corps Director for northern Thailand (1970-72), and Micronesia Country Desk Officer at Peace Corps headquarters (1972-73) before serving in Korea. Subsequently, Jon was the Regional Director (RD) at Peace Corps headquarters for the North Africa Near East Asia Pacific Region (NANEAP) for six years (1984-89). As NANEAP RD his notable achievements included negotiating and overseeing program designs for the new programs in Pakistan and China. In the last five years of his service on headquarters staff Jon was the Director of International Research and Development (1989-93) in which capacity he was responsible for opening new country programs in Central Europe and in the nations of the former Soviet republic.
Jon’s career as a PCV and Peace Corps official is virtually unparalleled in the agency’s history. His service on PC staff impacted literally hundreds of PCVs in Korea and in Peace Corps worldwide. Few have served the Peace Corps, the United States, and host countries in so many different capacities with the brilliance and dedication his government career evinces.
Beyond his government service, Jon’s support of the goals of FOK is additionally clearly demonstrated by his decade of combined service as a board member of the National Peace Corps Association (1993-96) and, as mentioned above, as president of FOK at a significant time.
My wife and I participated in the first of the many revisit trips which began in 2008. It was coordinated and led by Jon as FOK president. I still recall his words at the opening event of that revisit trip where he spoke—as he always did— of the three statutory goals of the Peace Corps: “to promote world peace and friendship” through volunteers “to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help [interested countries] in meeting their needs for trained manpower, to promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served and a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.”[2] As anyone who has heard Jon speak at Peace Corps Korea or FOK events can attest, he always emphasized the importance of fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and Koreans. The revisit trips which he helped to effectuate and led for six years are unique in the Peace Corps world—in that no other PC country has implemented such trips for returned PCVs— and unsurpassed as demonstrations of an incredibly effective means of realizing the goals of both the Peace Corps and of FOK.
In sum, for all of the reasons set forth above, I submit this nomination of Jon Keeton for the 2024 Kevin O’Donnell Award in recognition of his many contributions to the FOK mission of fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and Koreans.
...Jon has dedicated almost thirty years of his life, in one activity or another of government and public service, to fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and peoples of other countries—including Korea.
In particular a decade of his career of service directly involved Korea: (1) he was the Deputy Country Director and Country Director for Peace Corps Korea for four years (1973-76), and (2) he was the president of Friends of Korea for six years (2008-13).
In these roles Jon was hugely responsible first for perpetuating the O’Donnell Peace Corps legacy of programmatic and cross-cultural excellence in Korea and secondly, at the request of Kevin O’Donnell in 2007, for reinvigorating the activities of Friends of Korea as its president and working to establish with the Korea Foundation and the Korean Government the incredibly successful “revisit” program commencing in 2008.
By way of background, Jon’s service as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) and subsequently as a Peace Corps staff member encompassed far more than his association with Peace Corps Korea. In this regard he was a PCV in Thailand, serving as an elementary school English teacher trainer in a rural province (1965-67). He subsequently was a Peace Corps recruiter (1967-68), Associate Peace Corps Director for northern Thailand (1970-72), and Micronesia Country Desk Officer at Peace Corps headquarters (1972-73) before serving in Korea. Subsequently, Jon was the Regional Director (RD) at Peace Corps headquarters for the North Africa Near East Asia Pacific Region (NANEAP) for six years (1984-89). As NANEAP RD his notable achievements included negotiating and overseeing program designs for the new programs in Pakistan and China. In the last five years of his service on headquarters staff Jon was the Director of International Research and Development (1989-93) in which capacity he was responsible for opening new country programs in Central Europe and in the nations of the former Soviet republic.
Jon’s career as a PCV and Peace Corps official is virtually unparalleled in the agency’s history. His service on PC staff impacted literally hundreds of PCVs in Korea and in Peace Corps worldwide. Few have served the Peace Corps, the United States, and host countries in so many different capacities with the brilliance and dedication his government career evinces.
Beyond his government service, Jon’s support of the goals of FOK is additionally clearly demonstrated by his decade of combined service as a board member of the National Peace Corps Association (1993-96) and, as mentioned above, as president of FOK at a significant time.
My wife and I participated in the first of the many revisit trips which began in 2008. It was coordinated and led by Jon as FOK president. I still recall his words at the opening event of that revisit trip where he spoke—as he always did— of the three statutory goals of the Peace Corps: “to promote world peace and friendship” through volunteers “to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help [interested countries] in meeting their needs for trained manpower, to promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served and a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.”[2] As anyone who has heard Jon speak at Peace Corps Korea or FOK events can attest, he always emphasized the importance of fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and Koreans. The revisit trips which he helped to effectuate and led for six years are unique in the Peace Corps world—in that no other PC country has implemented such trips for returned PCVs— and unsurpassed as demonstrations of an incredibly effective means of realizing the goals of both the Peace Corps and of FOK.
In sum, for all of the reasons set forth above, I submit this nomination of Jon Keeton for the 2024 Kevin O’Donnell Award in recognition of his many contributions to the FOK mission of fostering cultural awareness and friendship between Americans and Koreans.
