The Foreign Service Journal, April 2009

48 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 9 S teve Honley never expected to go into journalism. However, his love of foreign affairs and his innate tal- ent for writing and criticism have come together fortuitously in his position as editor of the Foreign Service Journal. Steve grew up in Shreveport, La., where he attended Centenary College. After earning a master’s degree in inter- national affairs fromThe GeorgeWash- ington University, Steve entered the Foreign Service’s 25thA-100 class in Jan- uary 1985. He first served in Mexico City, thrust to the front lines of consular duty after one of the worst earthquakes in Mexican history. Then it was off to Wellington, from which he was able to travel to the South Pole. He spent the next nine years in Washington, first in political-military affairs, then in the Africa Bureau and finally, after a year of Russian-language training, in the Nu- clear Risk Reduction Center. He resigned in 1997 after burnout caused him to search for a different career. Shortly thereafter, a friend who was on the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board asked Steve to write an article on short notice to fill in for an ailing author. He happily complied, enjoying the expe- rience so much that he started writing regularly for the magazine, while con- tinuing to work at the NRRC as a con- tractor. WhenAFSA created a part-time FSJ associate editor position in April 1999, he applied for and got the job. And in July 2001, Steve moved up to the edi- tor’s chair of the Journal , a position he has held ever since. Steve sees the Journal “as a vehicle for fostering debate and raising public awareness of how the Foreign Service works.” He explains further, “I try to draw on my own experience and what I, as an FSO,would have liked the public to know about the Foreign Service.” But, he hastens to add, “that doesn’t necessarily translate to being a cheerleader. There are things that need reform, and the Jour- nal has a role in giving the FS commu- nity a forum in which to air different points of view and ultimately improve the institution.” Steve is well-known for his eagle eye when proofreading documents. “Steve is an amazing editor,”says FSJ Senior Editor Susan Maitra. “A conscientious word- smith with an acute ear and mastery of pith, he is responsible for the Journal ’s consistently high standard,while balanc- ing its professional and general foreign policy content.” Editorial Board Chair- man Ted Wilkinson comments, “His ability to get the best out of fractious au- thors, to ask just the right questions in his own informative VIP interviews, and to build and manage a skilled staff have el- evated themagazine into the top ranks of professional publications.” As if that were not enough, Steve de- votes much of his free time to perform- ing, conducting and composing. He plays both piano and organ, and pos- sesses an astonishing vocal range, switch- ing frombass to tenor to alto (sometimes within a single composition) as needed. Many State Department employees have probably heard and seen Steve in action with the T-Tones, State’s resident choral group, for which he is both assistant con- ductor and accompanist. In addition, he has served for nearly 15 years asmusic director of the Beverley Hills Community United Methodist Church, and has performed with such Washington-area choral groups as the Friday Morning Music Club Chorale, Carmina, the Ron Freeman Chorale, Cantate and Chantry. Though Steve self-deprecatingly says that he is “a jack-of-all-trades and mas- ter of none,” his colleagues and friends know better. He is a true Renaissance man. A F S A N E W S MILESTONES: TEN YEARS AT AFSA A Renaissance Man: Steven Alan Honley BY FRANCESCA KELLY HONORING THE STUDY OF HARD LANGUAGES AFSA Announces Sinclaire Language Award Winners BY BARBARA BERGER, COORDINATOR FOR PROFESSIONAL ISSUES P roficiency in foreign languages is one of the most valuable and important skills in today’s Foreign Service. AFSA’s Sinclaire Language Awards program honors lan- guage students for outstanding accomplishment in the study of a“hard”language and its associated culture. AFSA established this language-award program based on a bequest fromMatildaW. Sinclaire, a former Foreign Service officer. Candidates for the award are nominated by the language-training supervisors at the Foreign Service Insti- tute School of Languages or by the language instructors at the field schools. They are selected by a committee composed of volunteer AFSAmembers, amember of the Gov- erning Board who serves as chairman and theAFSA coordinator for professional issues. Each of the winners receives a check for $1,000 and a certificate of recognition signed by the AFSA president and the chair of the AFSA Awards Committee. AFSA congratulates the 11 winners of this year’s Sinclaire LanguageAward, and com- mends the School of Language Studies at FSI for its dedication in preparing students of hard languages for the intense challenges of modern diplomacy. This year’s winners are: Anthony Baird Albanian Lindsey Rothenberg Arabic Patrick McNeil Estonian Timothy Kraemer Korean Dewey Moore Korean Sandrine Goffard Mandarin Chinese Brooke Spelman Mandarin Chinese Candace Faber Polish Gary Westfall Tagalog Rachel Mueller Vietnamese Monica Boduszynski Vietnamese