The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

54 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 1 1 P roficiency in foreign languages is one of the most valuable and important skills in today’s Foreign Service. AFSA’s Sinclaire Language Awards pro- gram honors language students for out- standing accomplishment in the study of a difficult language and its associated cul- ture. AFSA established this language-award programbased on a bequest fromMatilda W. Sinclaire, a former Foreign Service offi- cer. The purpose of her bequest was to “promote and reward superior achievement by career officers of the Foreign Service of the United States while studying one of the ‘hard’ languages under the auspices of the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State.” The guidelines were amended and updated inOctober 2001 to expand eligibility for the awards to any career or career-conditional member of the Foreign Service from State, USAID, FCS, FAS or IBB. Candidates for the award are nominated by the language- training supervisors at the FSI School of Language Studies or by language instructors at the field schools. They are selected by a committee composed of volunteer AFSA members, a member of the AFSA Governing Board and the spe- cial awards and outreach coordinator. 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 Awards Committee. AFSA congratulates the nine winners of this year’s Sinclaire Language Award, and commends the School of Language Studies at FSI for its dedication in preparing stu- dents of hard languages for the intense chal- lenges of modern diplomacy. This year’s winners are: Daniel Bailey Latvian Eric Frater Vietnamese Melanie Higgins Indonesian Bradley Hurst Hungarian Andrew Partin Georgian Daniel Rakove Mongolian Stuart Smith Greek Thomas Venner Tagalog Vaida Vidugiris Greek Operations Center 50th Anniversary — Calling All Alumni This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Department of State’s Operations Center. Since April 30, 1961, the Ops Center’s Watch has operated 24/7/365, serving every Secre- tary of State from Dean Rusk to Hillary Rod- ham Clinton. As part of the celebration, we would like to contact all Ops Center alumni to ask them to share their stories and memorabilia, and to participate in events and service opportunities related to the 50th anniversary. The organiz- ing committee kindly requests you to send an e-mail to OperationsCenter50th@state.gov to let us know when you served in Ops, what sig- nificant events happened during your tenure and your current contact information. Please pass this along to others with whom you served. We look forward to hearing from you! A F S A N E W S AFSA Announces Sinclaire Language Award Winners BY SPECIAL AWARDS AND OUTREACH COORDINATOR PERRI GREEN JOSH AFSA NEWS BRIEFS State Unveils New Careers Web Site AFSA is not the only organization with a newWeb site. In February, the Office of Recruitment, Examination and Evaluation launched its own newly revamped careers site, with the goal of simplifying content and improving audience engagement (careers.state.gov). Where the earlier site had eight separate navigation topics, the new one streamlines them into three: learn, work and engage. Within these first two categories, visitors will find videos of employees detailing the realities of their careers and more information about the Diplomats-in-Residence program. One of the most interesting changes to the Web site is the focus on employee engagement with potential candidates for the Foreign Service. A blogroll lists some of the Service’s most prolific employee blogs, and forums allow current FS members to interact with, and give advice to, those who are hoping to join their ranks. For those FS personnel who wish they’d had someone to ask for advice back when they were applying for the Service, now’s your chance to do that for someone else!