“Jit” Trainor Award

The Trainor Award is presented annually to an outstanding American or foreigner for distinction in the conduct of diplomacy. The award is named for the late Raymond “Jit” Trainor, the much admired former registrar of the Walsh School of Foreign Service. The Trainor Trust Fund in his honor is overseen by Frank J. Hogan (chairman) and Allison L. Hiltz.

Past Recipients

2022 – Ambassador William J. Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (full speech)
2020 – Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (full speech)
2019 – Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
2018 – The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
2017 – Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2016 – Dr. Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy
2014 – Ambassador Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
2012 – Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico
2011 – Francis M. Deng, UN Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide
2009 – Louise Arbour, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group
2007 – R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, US Department of State
2006 – Mohamed El Baradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Association
2005 – John D. Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
2004 – John C. Danforth, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
2003 – James D. Wolfensohn on behalf of The World Bank Group, President of the World Bank
2002 – Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan
2001 – Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Allied Commander Europe
2000 – Dennis B. Ross, U.S. Ambassador and Special Middle East Coordinator
1999 – Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
1998 – Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General
1997 – Amr Moussa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Egypt
1996 – Walter F. Mondale, U.S. Ambassador to Japan
1995 – Thomas Graham, Jr. and Jayantha Cudah Bandara Dhanapala, Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament; Sri Lankan Ambassador to the U.S.
1992 – Thomas R. Pickering, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
1991 – Rinaldo Petrignani, Italian Ambassador to the U.S.
1990 – David D. Newsom, Author and Columnist for the Christian Science Monitor
1989 – Anatoly Fedorovich Dobrynin, Advisor to the Soviet Presidency
1988 – Max M. Kampelman and Mike Mansfield, Counselor to the US Department of State; United States Ambassador to Japan
1987 – Tommy T. B. Koh, President of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea
1986 – Arthur A. Hartman, U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union
1984 – Lord Carrington, Sixth Secretary-General of NATO
1983 – Deane Hinton, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan
1982 – Antonio Carrillo Flores, Mexican Ambassador to the US and the Soviet Union
1981 – William Bowdler, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
1980 – Phillip C. Habib and U. Alexis Johnson, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; US Delegate to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
1979 – David K. E. Bruce (Posthumously) and Berndt von Staden, U.S. Ambassador and Diplomat; West German Ambassador to the United States
1978 – Ellsworth Bunker, Advisor to President Carter on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties