J. Raymond Trainor Award
Each year, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) presents one distinguished public servant with the J. Raymond Trainor Award for excellence in the conduct of diplomacy.
The Trainor Award has honored diplomatic practitioners since the 1980s. Most importantly, all Trainor awardees have embodied the very best of diplomacy — they have all been sensible stewards of national power and shown leadership, diligence and courage.
Overseen by ISD board member Allison Kropp, the Trainor Award is named for the much-admired former registrar of the School of Foreign Service, J. Raymond Trainor.
Past recipients
Recipients by decade
2023 — Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Director General of the U.S. Foreign Service, and U.S. Ambassador to Liberia —Watch the lecture
2022 — Ambassador William J. Burns
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs —Watch the lecture
2020 — Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, and U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan —Read the speech
2019 — Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, and Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs —Watch the lecture
2018 — The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright
Former U.S. Secretary of State; Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations —Watch the lecture
2017 — Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Former Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations, and Ambassador of Jordan to the United States —Watch the lecture
2016 — Dr. Ernest Moniz
U.S. Secretary of Energy; Former Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and the Environment —Watch the lecture
2014 — Ambassador Wendy Sherman
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, and Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs —Watch the lecture
2012 — Ernesto Zedillo
President of Mexico; Former Mexican Secretary of Public Education, and Secretary of Programming and Budget
2011 — Francis M. Deng
Former South Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations, UN Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, and UN Special Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons —Read the speech
2009 — Louise Arbour
Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia —Read the speech
2007 — R. Nicholas Burns
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, and U.S. Ambassador to Greece —Listen to the speech
2006 — Mohamed El Baradei
Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Association
2005 — John D. Negroponte
U.S. Director of National Intelligence; Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, and Deputy National Security Advisor
2004 — John C. Danforth
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Former U.S. Senator from Missouri, and Missouri Attorney General
2003 — James D. Wolfensohn on behalf of The World Bank Group
President of the World Bank
2002 — Lakhdar Brahimi
UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan; Former Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Chair of the United Nations Panel on United Nations Peace Operations
2001 — Wesley K. Clark
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
2000 — Dennis B. Ross
Special Middle East Coordinator; Former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State —Listen to the speech
1999 — Michel Camdessus
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Former Governor of the Banque de France —Listen to the speech
1998 — Kofi Annan
UN Secretary-General; Former UN and Arab League Envoy to Syria, and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations —Listen to the speech
1997 — Amr Moussa
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Egypt; Former Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. —Listen to the speech
1996 — Walter F. Mondale
Former Vice President of the United States and U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Former U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and Minnesota Attorney General —Listen to the speech
1995 — Thomas Graham, Jr. and Jayantha Dhanapala
Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament; Sri Lankan Ambassador to the U.S. —Read the speech
1992 — Thomas R. Pickering
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Ambassador to El Salvador, Ambassador to Nigeria, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and Ambassador to Jordan
1991 — Rinaldo Petrignani
Italian Ambassador to the U.S.; Former Deputy Secretary-General of NATO, and Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations
1990 — David D. Newsom
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Ambassador to Indonesia, and Ambassador to Libya —Listen to the speech
1989 — Anatoly Fedorovich Dobrynin
Head of the International Department of the Soviet Central Committee; Former Soviet Ambassador to the United States, and Member of the Soviet Secretariat
1988 — Max M. Kampelman and Mike Mansfield
Counselor to the U.S. Department of State; United States Ambassador to Japan, Former U.S. Senator from Montana and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana’s 1st District
1987 — Tommy T. B. Koh
President of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea; Former Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations
1986 — Arthur A. Hartman
U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union; Former U.S. Ambassador to France
1984 — Lord Carrington
Sixth Secretary-General of NATO; Former UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
1983 — Deane Hinton
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan; Former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, and Ambassador to Zaire —Listen to the speech
1982 — Antonio Carrillo Flores
Mexican Ambassador to the US and the Soviet Union; Former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Secretary of Finance and Public Credit
1981 — William Bowdler
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs; Former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, Ambassador to South Africa, and Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State —Listen to the speech
1980 — Phillip C. Habib and U. Alexis Johnson
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; US Delegate to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
1979 — David K. E. Bruce (Posthumously) and Berndt von Staden
U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Former Ambassador to France, the United Kingdom, and West Germany; West German Ambassador to the United States
1978 — Ellsworth Bunker
Advisor to President Carter on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties; Former U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Italy, India, Nepal, South Vietnam, and the Organization of American States —Listen to the speech
About J. Raymond Trainor
Raymond “Jit” Trainor was one of the first students to enroll in Georgetown’s newly established School of Foreign Service (SFS) in the early 1920s. Jit Trainor graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in 1927 and became Assistant Secretary of the school while working on his master’s degree, which he completed in 1928. He became School Secretary in 1935 and, as such, was a key figure in the school’s administration, acting as coordinator between its Regent, Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., and the student body.
During his long association with SFS, Jit was both friend and counselor to the scores of students who entered the school. At the end of World War II, he served as acting dean, but declined an offer to become dean because he preferred his duties as secretary, a position that put him in daily contact with the students he was interested in helping. In 1956, the year he left Georgetown to join the Overseas Service Corp, he was awarded the Georgetown Medal of Merit.
After his death on January 13, 1976, School of Foreign Service alumni established the annual Jit Trainor Award and Lecture Series to honor the warm, human relationships Jit established with his students.