SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy presented its 2010 Citizen Diplomat Award to Ambassador John Price, Marcia Price and Rosemary Baron during a ceremony Thursday at Westminster College.

John Price served as the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius, Republic of Seychelles, and Union of the Comoros from 2002-05. His wife, Marcia, is a member of the National Committee for the Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center and chairs the National Leadership Council at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Together, they founded the UCCD's World Affairs Lecture Series.

"The freedoms we hold are so precious and so dear, and worth working for and talking about and representing," Marcia Price said. "(John's ambassadorship) was indeed an honor and a pleasure, as it is to receive this award."

Baron taught school in Libya and Guam early in her career and eventually returned to her native Utah to work at different times as principal at Northwest and Clayton middle schools in Salt Lake City. She first became involved with UCCD in 1998 while hosting a contingent of Saudi Arabian educators at Northwest in her capacity as principal. The Saudis were visiting the U.S. as part of the State Department's International Leadership Visitor Program that UCCD administers in Utah.

Speaking Thursday, Baron recounted how her mother instilled a keen interest in international affairs in her at a very young age.

"In my childhood, my inquisitive mother had a world globe in our dining room and a world map hanging in our kitchen," Baron said. "International events (and) issues related to countries were always part of our conversation."

e-mail: jaskar@desnews.com

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