Dr. Robert A. Thomas, interim director of the Loyola University New Orleans School of Mass Communication, was given the Outstanding Citizen Diplomat Award from the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council on June 26 at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in the Riverwalk Marketplace.

This is the second year that the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council has honored three professionals in the community for shaping U.S. foreign relations by meeting with visitors. Dr. Raphael Cassimere, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Orleans, and Vicki Weeks, executive director of Belle Reve New Orleans, will also be recognized.

Thomas says, “We live in an increasingly global society, and it is essential that we foster intercultural understanding. The New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council makes daily contributions in that arena.”

Thomas has worked with the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council for the past 20 years, hosting visitors from around the world and sharing with them stories of New Orleans, its climate and its people. Since 2005, Thomas has brought visitors on tours of the devastated areas of the city and discussed the impact the storm had on area. Thomas has hosted visitors from Canada, Russia, Montenegro, Holland and Azerbaijan, among others. He also played host to the Amir of Qatar on his highness' April visit to New Orleans, when he met with recipients of Qatar's $100 million gift to the Gulf States region.