 Hello, everyone. Good morning. Welcome to the second day of the HBCU Forum Policy Conference hosted virtually for the first time. Wow, this is amazing. I'm delighted to introduce our next round of networking lunch speakers. We will have up first a representative from the Presidential Management Fellowship Advisory Council, the co-chair, Miss Maureen LeMonde. Great. Thank you so much, Candice, and thank you as well to the conference organizers for having me here today, as well as all of you who are attending. My name is Maureen Wiley-LeMonde, and I am a Foreign Affairs Officer at the Department of State, as well as co-chair of the Presidential Management Fellows Advisory Council, which is an employee affinity group at the State Department. I also want to shout out two of my colleagues, Sarah and Ellen, who I believe are online in the chat box to answer any questions you might have while I'm speaking today. So to tell you a little bit more about my organization, what we do, the Presidential Management Fellowship Advisory Council's role is to create a connected network of current and former Presidential Management Fellows at the State Department. We also advocate as needed for our Presidential Management Fellows community, which includes active fellows and alumni of the program. Advocate for them with state HR and leadership on a variety of issues, including those pertaining to equity, diversity, and representation at state. I believe that the OPM PMF office provided a little overview of the PMF program during this morning session, but I'll just give a few highlights for those who might have missed it. So the Presidential Management Fellowship Program, or PMF, is for applicants who have advanced degrees or just about to complete one. It's a two-year program with the federal government, and during that two-year process you undergo a number of development and training requirements and hours, 80 hours of training each year, as well as a developmental rotation, either within your government agency or to another government agency. The program is run by OPM. Fellowes apply to the program through OPM. They're listed as finalists if they qualify, and then they seek appointment as a fellow at a government agency. The State Department has a long and very rich history with the PMF program. We have a number of PMF alumni throughout both the Civil Service and the Foreign Service at the State Department. And at all levels, from entry level, just new fellows who are just starting their careers, all the way up to senior leadership. So it's a very robust and very active community. It has also really put a lot of effort into giving the program momentum in recent years, and both state and USAID have been very active in hiring PMFs recently. I believe State Department hired just about 50 PMFs last year, which is really great to see. I myself am a very recent Presidential Management Fellow alum, so I came to the State Department as a Presidential Management Fellow, and I just completed my two-year fellowship earlier this month. It's been a really great opportunity for me. I currently work in the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, where I work largely on chemicals, international chemicals, air quality and waste issues. I also, as a Presidential Management Fellow, completed my developmental rotation in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, working in the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Office. So the great thing about being a PMF at State is that not only is this a great pathway into the State Department, but then because we have these developmental rotations, which are a required component of our program, we really get a great feel for a lot of the different opportunities throughout the building. So for me, coming from working on these environmental issues, it was a great experience to then go and work on some of these democracy, human rights and labor issues. Our fellows are able to rotate throughout the building or do rotations in other agencies, or one of the great advantages of doing your fellowship at the State Department, you can also rotate to some of our embassies overseas for four to six months. So that's obviously a really incredible learning and developmental experience. There are, the Presidential Management Fellowship Program at State is a pathway for fellows into a variety of roles. So not all of our fellows necessarily work on kind of straight policy jobs. I know a lot of people when they picture working at the State Department, it tends to be, you know, you're working on bilateral policy on a particular country or you're working on UN negotiations or things like that. And there are certainly fellows who do work in roles like that. But we also have fellows who come in and work as as management analysts or they work as budget analysts or they work as program managers administering foreign assistance on a variety of projects. For example, in my office, we have a number of people who work in administering foreign assistance related to air quality, improving air quality in other countries or mercury abatement so getting mercury out of environments overseas. So, you know, obviously some incredible opportunities through this program. You know, the PMF program is a really excellent pathway to working in the federal government in general, not just at the State Department. The nice thing about it is it's a direct pathway you apply to this program and then and then it gets you, if you are accepted you're, it's a very direct pathway into the federal government which can be, you know, I know sort of the online application of a little bit of a black bullet times and you sort of feel like you're applying and applying and applying on USA jobs and not really sure why you're not getting through, you know, and the process can be very rigorous and very specific for who sort of gets past that hurdle. So, you know, the nice thing about the PMF program is that entry into the program is based on an online assessment and this was online actually prior to COVID so it's always it's been an online assessment. An online assessment is administered by OPM typically in September, October, every year, and it's usually open, I believe for about a two week period you're able to log on and take the assessment. And that's it. So it's just the assessment, it's just basically assessing whether you're able to demonstrate these core skills and competencies necessary to succeeding in a career in the federal government. So it's, it's a really great pathway for anyone but especially those who might be worried that, you know, you have a nontraditional working background you don't necessarily have a lot of, say, government internships things like that. Your resume is not being evaluated as, you know, as a component of this assessment process it's just about showing that you have these skills and capabilities. It's one of the really excellent things about this pathway and the reason why if you're a graduate student or a prospective graduate student and you're even vaguely interested in working for the federal government. I would absolutely recommend that you apply to this program. It's just that one off assessment. It's not a huge lift. And then, you know, you can see whether you get in and go from there but it really is just one of the premier pathways into federal government service and also into working at the State Department. And it's not just a great pathway in terms of getting into the State Department, getting your foot in the door, but it's also, it's also a great program to really set you up for, for success and for future leadership, whether you're at the State Department or another agency. And that's for a couple reasons, you know, a big component of that is that there's these training and development and mentorship elements that are so inherent in this program. So every, every PMF regardless of what agency you're at has a mentor throughout your two year fellowship. You have these training hours requirements which are ensuring that you get a lot of these skills and development that, you know, ideally you would always get on the job but doesn't always happen. And then of course that developmental rotation which gives you the opportunity to explore maybe totally different working matter or totally different agency or as I said earlier potentially a post overseas as well. So, so all of these aspects to the program really set you up for success in your career. And as I said, you know, it's really well recognized I think throughout the federal government for, for these qualities and for the fact that it really brings in very, very quality federal opportunities but also, you know, particularly at the State Department because we do have a very long history of success with this program and as I said, you know, our the alumni of the program or throughout the department you run into them frequently so, you know, I really find in our, in our cohort really find that, you know, when you're introducing yourself as a PMF at the department, people know that that means something. You know, and then finally, another great advantage to the program is that it also advances you very quickly in terms of the promotion level. So you come into the program depending on your experience at a GS 9 11 or 12. And typically the the program the way it works is that you can get promoted up to a GS 13 within about three years of entering the agency. So that's, that's quite a fast track, you know, it can vary a little bit depending on agency rules but that's that's sort of the standard. So it's it's also, you know, it's in recognition of of what you are bringing to the agency that you're coming into and what you're gaining through completing this fellowship program that that there is that fast track. So, you know, that's sort of sort of the the gist of of the PMF program. You know, I, having gone through it myself, you know, I sort of I mean first applied for it I didn't really know a lot about it. You know, I sort of heard about it heard that it was a pathway into federal government service and you know it's kind of like oh well you know I'd like to work in public service I guess I should apply to this. And I am thankful every day that I did because it was certainly one of those things where it wasn't until I was in it that I realized what an absolutely incredible opportunity it was. Again, just reiterate, if you're a graduate student a prospective graduate student you're interested in any career in the federal government in general but to particularly the Department of State. It's an incredible pathway to do so it's an incredible foot of the door, and you know it's an incredible level as well because, as I said your resume, it's not examining your resume it's just your merit, your skills your competencies so please do check out the PMF program. You can visit pmf.gov for more information, and thank you very much. Thank you so much, Maureen. So, I am also very excited for our next speaker. Yesterday you heard from a number of principals we call them at the State Department who carry very high ranking titles at our agency. So I would like to introduce to you the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs, the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Stanley Brown. Thank you Candice and it's a pleasure to be here talking to you this morning at the 2021 HBCU Foreign Policy Conference. I am from the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs. I'm going to talk about what we call PM as well as the T family of bureaus and what we do here. But PM, since 1969 we have served as the primary link between the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Here in PM we integrate diplomacy and defense and forge strong international partnerships to meet the shared challenges that we see out there. So what do we do? We have seven main categories. We provide the Secretary of State with a global perspective on political military affairs. When you start looking at the defense trade industry and security assistance to our partners and allies that's a significant part of our U.S. influence overseas. We build partner capacity through security assistance. In that we provide about $7 billion to our partners and allies. That comes in the form of maybe grants for improve their security sectors. It also includes grants for weapons and things of that nature to partner with us and shared national security challenges. We invite foreign students to the United States for international military education and training. We have accounts that build the capacity of countries to do peacekeeping operations overseas, largely in Africa. And we work closely with our Department of Defense to make sure that the $9 billion that they have in security assistance is gotten by our foreign policy priorities here at the State Department. Next we build, we enhance regional security and defense relationships. We help on a bilateral or multilateral basis discussions and talks between different countries on our shared security interest. And making sure that we continue that conductive tissue as we look at our national security and diplomatic priorities here at the State Department. The State Department also regulates arms transfers and defense trade. A lot of times when people hear the words arms transfers, because it is arms, people think of that as the primacy of the Department of Defense. That's not correct. That is the responsibility of the State Department. And we transfer about $170 billion a year in defense arms overseas to different partners and allies usually from the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. We provide diplomatic support to DOD. Here at the State Department we have about 90 foreign service officers that are detailed over to the Department of State to make sure the foreign policy is incorporated in DOD planning and activities and discussions. At the same time the Department of Defense since 98 officers this way as military detail leads to the State Department. That is how I first got involved with the State Department. I came here as a major. I was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and I was detailed to the State Department for my first tour here in counterterrorism some years ago. I've been a product of that and once I came to the State Department in every military assignment that I had after that to Washington, D.C. I actually came back to the State Department. So the bottom line is great opportunity and a great way to extend and exchange information. We contribute to defense policy and planning. In the defense policy and planning world we make sure that the Department of Defense takes into account foreign policy as they're doing their war planning and their global campaign plans. And they're dealing with the different issues that they have priorities around the world. And the service biggest area is we reduce the conventional weapons threats. One of the things that I had a privilege to do is after retiring from the Air Force I came on board the State Department as the director of an office that was responsible here at the State Department for cleaning up after conflict. Another thing that a lot of people don't think that the State Department does but that office is responsible for going around the world and cleaning up the land mines, unexploded bombs and ordinance IEDs around the world that are left over. And most people are shocked. We're still doing that from World War II Vietnam and our campaigns in Europe and some Cold War campaigns in Africa. So it's been a great way to participate in our national security enterprise but also give back humanitarian standpoint. As I kind of alluded to my story is I came here to State Department while still in uniform and then transition State Department into a senior role here working in the office of weapons removal and abatement. The State Department has been a great experience. The work that especially that office does, I'll say I'm biased in that regard, has a lot to do with national security but also human humanitarian affairs and helping people like clearing a farmer's field that has land mines in it, clearing paths for children to go to school. And the people that work in that office don't have military backgrounds for the most part. They are early career professionals much like yourself that are gaining skills in resource management, grant management, program management as they go around the world. So they're very practical skills that you can take anywhere in the management of different programs that we do. Real quickly though I want to talk about diversity and inclusion. One of the things in PM at the highest levels we continue to push for the implementation of diversity inclusion initiatives across the group. We take the opportunity to for outreach in every way that we can. We're trying to ensure that we have a diverse interview panels in place because quite frankly that's the first step to trying to get into the department. So I would encourage you to consider serving in PM whether that's through internships, fellowships, contractor positions, direct hire civil service, or foreign service generalists or specialist positions. The work that we do in PM is central to US foreign policy and that direct experience and PM will set you up in many ways for a career here as well as other places. So it's a great place to work and look forward to interest in PM. But PM is just one of the bureaus in what we call the T family. The T family is the family of bureaus that is focused on arms control and international security. The three other bureaus in that family, we have the arms control verification and compliance bureau. They work on compliance with treaty obligations, especially in the areas of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons issues. We have a bureau that's focused on cyberspace initiatives. And we also have the Bureau of international security and nonproliferation and their responsibilities to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the delivery systems that can do that as well as other advanced weapons systems. Now, when you listen to that, it's kind of hard to discern sometimes what those activities are and are these just policy people or what are they working on? But I can tell you that people that we need have degrees in chemistry. They're Russian language speakers. They're space and emerging technology folks, people that can work on the policy side and people that can work on the technical side. There are people that have a background or want to do work in cyber policy. They're economists. They're engineers. They're physicists. We have people that are focused on our own policy issues and we have Chinese speakers. As I said earlier, we have people that do work in the resource management, managing money, understanding grants, as well as people that are focused on getting skills and program and project management. So there's a little bit of something out there for everyone in that regard. I would, some of the things that we have done in some of the offices like a PMWRA weapons removal and abatement, they have a fellowship where we actually bring a person in for a year. They serve on the resource management team. It is a paid fellowship. They gain skills and resource management perspectives. And then in their second year, they go to the program team and they're out doing the program management type functions that the Bureau needs. The Bureau participates, as you heard earlier, in their presidential management fellows. We have fellows that come to the department and are placed within the Colloquial Military Affairs Bureau in that regard, as well as the greater T family of bureaus that are here. So with that, again, I encourage you to be aggressive in your search for opportunities here at the State Department and ask for those informational interviews and see if you can get on people's calendars so that you can discuss. And so they know your name and they can also let you know about the opportunities that are coming up here at the department. Candace, back to you and thanks everyone for your attention and the opportunity to speak to you today. Thank you so much, Acting P. Das Brown. I would just like to make another shameless plug that I was very key. Send those emails, send those emails, informational interview, you never know where that will take you. Okay, so moving on, we have another very important person at the State Department here to share some of the great work that her office and Bureau does. We now will have remarks from the, excuse me, so sorry, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons or AKA JTIP because we love acronyms here at the department. The Senior Coordinator for that office, Ms. Erica Moten. Thank you, Candace. Good morning, everyone. First, I'd like to thank the State Department as well as my colleagues in the Global Public Affairs Office of the Public Liaisons HBCU conference team for coordinating this important event. I also would like to thank you, the students for making this event even possible. It's great to know that so many of you are interested in a career in foreign policy. I am Erica Moten, a proud 2002 graduate of Howard University. If you do the math, you can figure out how old I am. I am also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. It is an honor to represent Howard and Delta Sigma Theta and work for the State Department. I am the Senior Coordinator for the Resource Management and Planning Team in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, also known as the TIP Office. I oversee the executive functions for the office, which employs 80 people. Today, I am here to talk to you about the TIP Office. I'll start off by defining human trafficking and explain our office mandate. I want to make this presentation as helpful to you as possible, so in the end, I'll delve into my role and explain to you my journey and hopefully provide you with some career advice. If you have any additional questions about the office, my colleagues Andrea Ballant and Ben Wiselago are monitoring the chat room and can answer your questions. You can also email the TIP Office with your questions and Andrea or Ben will provide you with that email address in our chat room. Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons or modern slavery, is nothing less than slavery in the 21st century. It is a crime where traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for the profit or compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex. When a person younger than 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion. The TIP Office leads the U.S. global engagement on human trafficking and manages the coordination of federal efforts to combat human trafficking. The primary functions in our office are focused on producing the annual trafficking in persons report. The TIP Report, as it is known, is the U.S. government's principal diplomatic and diagnostic tool to guide engagements with foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world's most comprehensive resource for governmental and anti-trafficking efforts and reflects the U.S. government's commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue. The TIP Office has direct engagement with foreign governments and international organizations on trafficking in persons. We also fund and monitor anti-trafficking programs. Since 2020, the TIP Office managed more than 95 bilateral regional projects and regional projects in 77 countries with a total of close to $200 million. We engage in public diplomacy and raise awareness. The TIP Office also supports a large inter-agency role, which coordinates U.S. government-wide efforts to support the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. So I've given you a high-level overview of my office and my role. So now I want to shift the conversation to tell you about what I've learned during my soon-to-be 20 years of working in State Department. First, networking is key to my success. I've spent a lot of time talking to my counterparts throughout the State Department. I like to know what other offices are doing, and I like to share the TIP Office's innovations. I encourage you all to use your networks. If you are a member of a sorority or a fraternity, start networking. Also, pay close attention to their social media events of your sororities or fraternities. Also, think about networking events that are held by your places of worship, as well as some of your alumni programs. Monitor your reputation. This also means your social media accounts. Resumes document our accomplishments. But what you post on social media says a lot about you as well. You do not want one negative message to damage your entire career. Hiring managers will also go out of our way to find information about candidates to see if they're respectful. Are they on time? Do they pay attention to detail? Bottom line is that you are responsible for your reputation, so protect it. Having a plan is important, but being flexible is key to navigating through uncertainty. 2020 threw us all for a loop. I'm sure many of you had summer internships lined up, as well as studying abroad, and you are now in school in a remote environment. How can you still reach your goals during this pandemic? I recommend thinking about the future of the workforce. Jobs will be filled remotely, so think about applying for jobs that are outside of your normal commuting area. Since 2009, the Virtual Student Federal Service has allowed e-interns to work on projects of global importance for the federal government. There is no travel required for these internships, and you're able to gain experience to add to your resume. This program is managed by the e-diplomacy office within the State Department. My office now is actually in the midst of hiring someone full-time that previously worked in our office in 2015 as an e-intern. A virtual internship could be key to landing a full-time job once you graduate from college. Have a mentor or someone that wants to take an active role in helping you plan your future. I am the highest ranking female person of color in my office. I would not be here today if or would not for the mentors that helped me navigate through this process. While at Howard, I met the diplomat in residence after he spoke at an honors program. He helped me apply for a job at State Department and invested his time in ensuring that I completed my application correctly. Once I was hired, I took advantage of the State Department's mentoring program, and it changed the trajectory of my career. I selected a situational mentor. We talked about my goals, and she helped me find a new position within one month. The program is set up for the mentor and mentee to learn from each other. Contact your school or your HR department to find about the mentoring program. Last but not least, you must give back to the next person. There is power in helping your community and sharing information. My mentor was instrumental in my success, and her only requirement was that I pay it forward. I urge you all to share the information that you learned during the last two days, share it with your roommates, your friends, your study partners, and your families. Thank you all for taking the time to join us. I wish you all success, the best of luck, and stay safe. Back to you, Candice. Wow, thank you so much, Erica, for those powerful words. I don't know about you all, but I just get so excited to come here and I'm just blown away. Okay, so we are also very excited to have our next speaker join us from the Blacks and Government, Carl T. Rowan Chapter, Madam President, Ms. Sherrie M. Brown. Thank you, Candice. I am so excited to be here. Many thanks to the Bureau of Global Public Affairs for hosting this amazing event, and to my wonderful extraordinary colleagues on the panel today. It is a pleasure to share this space with you. I'm going to start with something Erica stated, and it's so true. And this is where Blacks and Government, the Carl T. Rowan Chapter comes into play. It's important to give back one of the many ways in State Department to network, to know about the Foreign Service, the Civil Service, many opportunities to be on the cusp of exciting policies and issues to advocate. For your well-being is to stay engaged with an employee affinity group. The Carl T. Rowan Blacks and Government Chapter, formerly known as the Information Agency Big Chapter, is committed to the mission, goes and objectives of Biggs National Organization and the Department of State. Biggs itself was organized in 1975 and incorporated in 1976 as a nonprofit employee network committed to advocacy and employee resources for primarily civil servants at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Biggs National has 11 regions, and our chapter here at the Department of State is one of more than 50 chapters in the region 11 sector. In April of 2001, we were part of the USAID Big Chapter, which is no longer in existence, but our sister agency is over at USAID. Together, we are one of two big chapters involved in foreign affairs, and we are committed to collaborating and advocating on behalf of civil servants and Foreign Service officers, professionals of color, here at the Department of State. Our organization is great about community outreach, professional development, engaging, speaking with the principals. For example, we met with Secretary Blinken a couple of Fridays ago, along with other employee affinity groups to share our views and to also hear what the secretary had to say in terms of diversity and inclusion, recruitment, equity, access, and fairness, and opportunities for professionals of color. You are in this place at the right time for giving back and for coming in. It's important that as you seek opportunities with the Department of State, you connect with an organization like Blacks in government called T-Rollin Chapter. We're not the only chapter, but it's important that you build your network also to develop your skillset to hear what issues we're talking about and get involved in leadership and committee activities. We connect with academia, sororities and fraternities, other federal agencies within the region of Blacks in government, other leaders from the functional and regional bureaus, we get job opportunities that you would love to take advantage of. We stay engaged on a weekly basis with global talent management, formerly known as HR, with the Office of Civil Rights, and many other partners across the Department of State. I guess you're wondering, I'm not a federal employee, so how can I join? I'm glad you asked. You can join Blacks in government called T-Rollin Chapter as a partner or as a student. You don't have to be a federal employee. You don't even have to be a state or local employee, but you do have to connect with the mission. And our mission is exactly the mission of what you have heard from our fellow panelists today. We want the best and the brightest with deep technical skills, with creativity and innovative thinking to be a part of this great organization and to give back to the Department of State. I'm a part of this chapter, but my civil service job is as a senior management and program analyst in the Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, which is an arm of the Undersecretary for Management. Because I am a civil service employee and part of Blacks in government, I am connecting literally with hundreds of professionals that are committed to doing their best in a number of fields. No matter what it is, born service, civil service, acquisitions, resource management, legal analysis, whatever it is, you can do that here and you can do it better when you connect with an employee affinity group. I would like to let you know that our chapter is sponsoring on March 6, a panel discussion about the importance of HBCUs and the Divine Nine in public service in government. We have a wonderful panel on March 6 from 10 to 12 p.m. that we would love for you to be a part of. And why? Because we're going to hear from some top notch professionals across federal government how they have used their HBCU experience and their connection through the Greek life to come into and be impactful in public service. You can get more information about Blacks in government's CTR by emailing bigctr at state.gov. My colleagues, John Jasek, Lisa Watts, and Felicia Ruffin are monitoring the chat and can answer any of the questions that you may have. Blacks in government call T. Rowan chapter is amazing. My colleague Erica talked about giving back. We do that with oratorical competitions where we give our scholarships up to $1,000 to high school students that speak on the national subjects. And this is persons from grades 9 through 12 that participate. We have the E.J. Montgomery Scholarship where we award graduating seniors with the scholarship. We participate in the capital area food bank. So we're not just here for ourselves, but we're here for our community. That's what we do, right? It's so important about the professional development piece. That panel that I just mentioned a few minutes ago is being organized by the first ever call T. Rowan emerging leaders program of our chapter. We wanted to add on another way that we can mentor and bring in up and coming emerging leaders to give back to the community and to develop themselves through connection with the broader community. They're the ones sponsoring that panel. And so we're excited and I hope that you will join. I hope that I have inspired you in some way. I love working for State Department out of the many federal agencies I've been in. This is my favorite and I'm quite sure I'm going to stay here. It has been a great place to work with more than 18 years federal experience 14 years at the Department of State. This is the place to soar with so many opportunities as a student, as a contractor, as a foreign service officer, and as a civil service. Come on over, apply and get involved. And when you decide to get involved, remember blacks in government, the call to your own chapter. Thank you, Candace. Thank you, sharing that was. Oh, we are so happy to have you all join us today and hear these phenomenal speakers as you can tell there's passion in those voice in their voices. So we're going to take a quick intermission and a quick break and then we'll be back for our second round of networking lunch speakers so please sit tight refresh your page if you need to. And we'll just have a little quick intermission. And I'm the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the US Department of States Bureau of International Security and nonproliferation ISN. I'm excited to join you to share a bit about our bureau's work and opportunities in our field for students and recent graduates. Our bureau is dedicated to three mutually reinforcing efforts. The first effort is nonproliferation, which means preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction or WMD and related technologies. Second, we work with other countries to develop and implement robust nonproliferation agreements. Using diplomacy, we hold strategic stability dialogues, implement counterproliferation policies and enforce WMD related sanctions. Lastly, we train and assist partner countries. Through these training initiatives, ISN personnel provide expertise on a variety of topics such as improving export controls on potentially dangerous materials, countering nuclear smuggling and keeping WMD materials out of the hands of terrorists. Our workforce is a diverse and multidisciplinary one and we recruit heavily from a variety of fields including international relations and the hard sciences. We have people who specialize in aspects of export control, civilian nuclear power, sanctions policy, chemical, biological and nuclear sciences and other related fields. The bureau is proud to offer a variety of internship and fellowship programs to students with interest in any of these policies or technical disciplines. For current students, we encourage you to check out internship opportunities with ISN at careers.state.gov. For recent or soon to be graduates of advanced degree programs, ISN also participates in a number of fellowship programs to provide full-time employment, often alongside professional development and networking opportunities. These fellowships include the Presidential Management Fellowship and the Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, which is sponsored by the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences. For veterans who are receiving their graduate degrees in international relations and political science fields, the Department of State also offers the Veterans Innovation Partnership VIP Fellowship. The VIP is a 12-month program that provides educated, highly achieving veterans unique opportunities to gain experience in foreign policy so they may continue to serve the United States beyond the military. I will also note that the non-proliferation field spans multiple federal agencies, think tanks and NGOs. Some of the other federal agencies involved in this mission set include the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Energy. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, also hosts a graduate fellowship program, which provides students with salary experience in the nuclear security field. Fellowship opportunities are offered in the areas of non-proliferation, stockpiled stewardship, infrastructure and oversight. A career in the non-proliferation field promises to be an exciting and global one. Our workforce has the privilege of representing America's interests overseas, often traveling far and wide to achieve our mission. And although our travel has been limited in the last year due to the pandemic, we have remained busy and globally engaged. Many of our offices have continued training partners through virtual platforms. Additionally, some of our experts have helped advise the Department's response to a number of crises operations, including bringing Americans home at the start of the pandemic and providing chemical security expertise in the aftermath of the Port of Beirut explosion. As you can see, there is never a jaw moment working in the non-proliferation field. It's been an extremely fulfilling career for me, both personally and professionally. And I think many of my colleagues would agree. I hope you'll consider joining this talented community of public servants and dedicated who are dedicated to building a safer and more secure world. Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the rest of your conference. Hello everybody. I hope you're enjoying the HBCU Foreign Policy Conference so far. My name is Jay Nathan Bland and I am a diplomat in residence for the central south region, which includes Louisiana, my home state, Mississippi and Arkansas. We have 16 of us, DIRs, scattered all throughout the country. And our role as DIRs are to try to reach out to students like yourselves and young professionals to let you all know about our careers and our student programs at the U.S. Department of State. The goal ultimately is to get you excited about careers and diplomacy and to let you know how to get there if you're at all interested. I'm based at Tulane University in New Orleans, but as I mentioned, I'm a resource for the whole region. For Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, so any student here can contact me instead of appointments when we can talk about your interests. One of our main goals also is just to increase the diversity within the U.S. diplomatic corps. In the past, as you may well know, most of the diplomats came from the northeast. Most were white males. And so now we really want the U.S. diplomatic corps to reflect all of America. So that's why we're in small town Louisiana, small town Alabama, small town Colorado, Oklahoma, trying to get that ethnic and racial diversity, trying to get that geographic diversity, socioeconomic diversity, gender diversity. Because we want, when we're abroad, we want to represent all of America. And so all of its richness. One of the things that we like to tell students about obviously is our student programs. I'm sure you must have heard about, at least I hope you've heard about the Pickering and the Wango fellowships, which are amazing fellowships. They pay for two years of graduate school. They provide two internships, paid internships, one domestic and one abroad. And they bring you into the foreign service for a five-year commitment afterwards. But have you also heard about the Faith fellowship, the Foreign Affairs Information Technology fellowship, which pretty much does the same thing, but it does it for IT related majors. It pays for two years of schooling, either your junior year and senior year, so you can apply as a sophomore, or two years of grad school, so you can apply as a senior as well. And it provides the two paid internships, and it brings you into the Foreign Service as a Foreign Service Information Management Specialist. We also have study abroad programs, like the Critical Language Scholarship or the Gilman Scholarship, which is available now. In fact, applications are due in March. Those are fellowships that actually pay for you to go study abroad. And if you want to study a language, they actually offer you a bit more money to go study a language abroad. I remember when I was in undergrad, I wanted to study abroad. I went to London to study abroad and to pay for it. My mom was out there doing fundraisers in our church and our community to help people. These scholarships and these fellowships help to pay for those types of things. I know there are plenty of HBCUs in my district, so I hope you all reach out to me. As I mentioned, my name is Jay Nathan Bland. My email address is dircentralsouthatstate.gov. But for everybody, for all of you, you can easily find your DIR, your Diplomatin Residence. You go to our website, careers.state.gov. And at the top little box on the right, there's something that says Connect, or Connect is Us. And you find the Diplomatin Residence link, you'll find a map. And click on your state, your region, and you'll find the DIR for that region. So please do. Please do reach out to us. You can schedule appointments for one-on-one meetings. We do career fairs. We do info sessions for schools. And everything right now is being done virtually due to the pandemic, which has its ups and downs. It allows us to travel around and see all of you much easier than before. You know, we don't have to physically get out and go. We just set up a quick, terrible meeting or Zoom or something, and it's done. So please do reach out to us, either me or your DIR. And good luck with your studies, good luck with everything you want to do. I hope you are interested in our careers, and I hope to hear from you soon. Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoyed a couple videos of some of our partner organizations and true allies for champion HBCU students like yourselves. So we have three more speakers, and we'll conclude our networking lunch for the second day of our conference. I'm proud to introduce the Pickering and Rangel Fellowship Senior Advisor, Mr. Michael Deasy from Howard University. Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. I'm here to provide a little bit more, a little bit of information about the Thomas Pickering Fellowship and the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program. I know you've heard a little bit about it during the first day and possibly today. But let me give you a little bit of background about myself. I'm a Morehouse alum. I am a former Pickering Fellow, actually the first cohort of Pickering Fellows. And I'm a retired Foreign Service Officer. I spent 23 years in the Foreign Service before retiring in 2019 and moving over here to Howard University. Through the two fellowship programs, we support fellows through a two-year master's degree in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service. We also provide extensive professional development opportunities including internships, mentors, and skills training. Upon successful completion of either of the programs, fellows become Foreign Service Officers who work to advance U.S. interests, protect American citizens, and promote peace of prosperity around the world. But let me dive into the specific programs. Let's start with the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Program. This program offers up to $84,000 in funding for a two-year graduate program. So that's $42,000 a year. And in a U.S.-based institution in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service. It also provides a 10-week internship in the State Department in Washington, D.C. between the first and second year of graduate school. You'll receive another 10-week internship overseas at the U.S. Consular Embassy after completion of graduate school. Fellows who successfully complete the program and the Foreign Service entry requirements are offered employment as Foreign Service Officers. And this employment comes with a five-year service commitment. Let me move on to the RANGLE program, which is very similar to the Pickering program, but there's some differences that I will mention. The RANGLE program has actually two components to it. The first component is the graduate fellowship. And like the Pickering fellowship, it also offers up to $84,000 in funding for graduate school. Before you begin your first year of graduate school, the RANGLE program provides a 10-week internship on Capitol Hill. Big difference from the Thomas Pickering fellowship. A 10-week internship on Capitol Hill in the area of foreign affairs or of relevance to foreign affairs. Between the first and second year of graduate school, the RANGLE fellows will receive another internship. This one is overseas at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. For, I know there are a number of students who may be listening that are not quite at the point where they're going to, they're able to apply for the graduate fellowships. We may be talking about sophomores, juniors. Well, RANGLE also offers a summer enrichment program. It's a Department of State program designed to provide undergraduate students with a deeper appreciation of current issues in foreign affairs, a greater understanding of career opportunities in international affairs, and enhanced knowledge and skills to pursue such careers. It's a six-week program in Washington, D.C., at Howard University, and it starts around mid-June to late July. And during that period of time, you'll interact with individuals on the Hill. You'll interact with the State Department. There are academic courses and seminars. And the scholars who attend the summer enrichment program receive tuition, travel, room and board, and a stipend of $3,200. So those are three programs under two programs under RANGLE and one program under Pickering. I also have a colleague, well, one last thing. I do have a colleague who is, who should be answering questions in the chat box if you're, if you're able to leave questions in the chat box. Other than that, you could go to rangleprogram.org or Pickeringfellowship.org and find more information. Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate those warm remarks. So now that you've heard from Michael, who is representing the Pickering Rangleship Fellowship, we now want to shift gears and talk about, okay, what happens after you become a Pickering Rangler and what resources might there be and what is the network that you've built after becoming and successfully completing the Pickering and Rangleship Fellowship program. I'm happy to have the Pickering Rangleship Fellowship Association representative, Ms. Malika Rufai, to represent. And she is also a North Macedonia desk officer for the Office of South Central in Europe. Hi, good afternoon, everyone. It is such a pleasure to be here chatting with students and also with others who might be interested in joining and starting a career in foreign policy. My name is Malika Rufai. As Candice mentioned, I originally hail from Chicago, Illinois, and I'm a very proud graduate of Spelman College. Once, yes, I see Michael smiling. Yes, that's my brother. So one of the things that you'll learn about Spelman grads is we have, our North Star really is service. And it's because from day one, from the moment you cross those pearly gates and you enter Spelman College, the idea that your success is your own is absolutely ripped right out of you. There is very much this central idea that service is the rent that we pay for our time here on Earth, as Mary and Ray Edelman said. But it's also just the overall ethos of the college that we have a responsibility not only to lead and to create more opportunities for others, but really falls right into the ethos of another HBCU alum, our very own Vice President Kamala Harris, who loves to remind us of the things that her mother often said to her. You may be the first to do many things, but just make sure you're not the last. And so I think you'll find that not only among Spelman alumna, but among alumni from all HBCUs, there's very much the sense of responsibility to serve others and to ensure that you are creating space for other people to follow in your stead. So I personally took that quite seriously. And we often say at Spelman College that when you enter, you enter to learn and exit to serve. And we empower you with this choice to change the world. So from day one, I was very odd and very fortunate when I came into Spelman to already know that I wanted to be in the Foreign Service. I do not by any means expect that everyone will know this, but I was very lucky in that regard and was therefore able to align myself with opportunities that then would help to facilitate that journey for me. So day one, I go into a meeting with our study abroad coordinator who also was responsible for a lot of the fellowships and other scholarship opportunities that were known to Spelman. And I told her, I want to be a diplomat. And I love the fact that immediately she goes, oh, okay, well, we can make that happen. Absolutely. There was no question of, well, you know, it's really hard to do. And well, you know, there's so much work. It was absolutely solutions oriented and she was very much committed to making sure that she could help facilitate that journey for me. So I just take that moment to encourage you to really lean into the people that pour into you and that speak life into your goals and your aspirations. So she's the person who introduced me to the Pickering Fellowship and I was fortunate enough to be selected at the end of my sophomore year. That then led me into an internship with what was then the J Bureau, it's now the D Bureau for, and this was the undersecretary for human rights and one of our seventh floor principles, but she had responsibilities for human rights, democracy, labor, all types of issues that I personally found really engaging. And I also was fortunate enough to then intern at our embassy in Nassau and work in our public diplomacy sections, our consular sections and political and economic sections, really getting a full experience of what the State Department had to offer with the exception, of course, of our management cone. So I know that you all have already been introduced to the various cones and kind of areas of responsibility within the Foreign Service, so I won't belabor that point, but for me personally, public diplomacy was truly my calling. The thing that I loved about public diplomacy was just the emphasis on connections to people as well as strategic communications. It's not enough for us to be doing our work kind of in silence. Our job really is to tell the story of America and for me as an HBCU alumna, as a daughter of immigrants, as so many things, I wanted to be able to tell that story because that too is the American story. And so it became very important to me to ensure that our Foreign Service looked like America and I think that you'll find that what we do within the Pickering and Regal Fellows Association now an employee affinity group that is part of the State Department is that we really center those ideals and really make sure that we're focusing on retaining the diverse talent that we're responsible for having brought in. So the Pickering and Regal Fellows Association, as Michael's already mentioned, offers a wide range of opportunities and funding. And so that funding has contributed to really the majority of the diversity within the State Department and right now we serve approximately 800 members. So really proud of that growing group of talented officers and we focus all of our programming on maintaining that network and on retaining that talent. So I'm actually the professional development chair for the organization and so a lot of my focus in terms of our programs has been shoring up the skills that we need as we move into upper management, really bolstering the mentorship relationships that we have with leaders throughout the department as we cultivate those skills within ourselves to be able to lead effectively. But I want to just briefly pause there because I know that we might have questions. But I can't stress enough the ways in which Spelman College and the ethos that we learned there really led me into a career of service and really forced me out of my comfort zone and made me sure of the fact that I could serve as a leader in any capacity in any space around the world. Thanks very much. Thank you so much, Malika. Wow, I'm so excited to have so many alumni joining us from across various parts of the department and just as allies for HBCUs. So we're coming to a partner program. We have our last speaker. I'm excited to introduce the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. We have the acting director of this Bureau, also known as OBO. I'm here to introduce Mr. Henry Jardine. Great, Candice, thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to be part of today's presentation. Again, I've been with the State Department for 25 years. I've had opportunities to serve in Bangladesh, Barbados, India, Thailand and Albania. But I'm very excited to have the opportunity to speak to the participants here because for OBO, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations very much committed to diversity of people in all senses, backgrounds, experiences, and especially in professions and skills because as you'll see, I know many of you have heard about Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy. OBO has many skills, many talented people who support that foreign policy in many different ways. And so I hope that those of you who may have wanted to do something in an international setting but maybe not specifically foreign policy but in other areas such as engineering, architecture and so on, you think about OBO. And I'll talk a little bit about what we do and the kinds of jobs that we have and there's certainly opportunities even now for you to consider and look at how you could join OBO whether in different positions or even through internship programs. So if we go to the next slide, I'll describe a little bit about OBO. And essentially we're the organization, the Bureau within the department that really manages all aspects of the facilities overseas, the platforms, the embassies, the consulates, the office buildings, the housing, everything that is there, all the facilities that is there to be able to allow people to do their job overseas ends for all the U.S. government employees overseas. So it's quite extensive. We'll go to the next slide, please. And here again, you know, this is our mission. It's really to provide those safe, secure facilities so that people can do their jobs representing the U.S. government anywhere from public diplomacy or as Malika had mentioned or doing things such as consular work or development, the whole range of different jobs that U.S. government officials do overseas. And we want to make sure that these facilities not only are secure and safe, but they really represent the United States, that they represent our values about openness, technology, democracy. And we try to do it visually. We try to do it through the way people come and engage with our offices, with our people. Next slide, please. And as you can see, you know, this is obviously quite a large portfolio. We're talking about many, many countries around the world and in those countries we have lots of different facilities and we have a significant portfolio and it requires really talented, skilled people to manage all aspects, you know, really from soup to nuts from the time that we go through real estate actions to acquire property, to build, designing those facilities, to building the facilities. You know, and we've been very fortunate that we have some of the leading architectural firms that work with us. We've won many of the industry's leading prizes for the quality and distinctiveness of our facilities and designs. And in addition, one thing that I don't think a lot of people are familiar with, we do, you know, have a lot of beautiful artwork that we work with American artists of all kinds, some leading African American artists, Gehendi Wiley, who did the portrait for President Obama, for instance, had been commissioned to do artwork in Santa Domingo for us. And, you know, this really is a platform for communication in all sense, culturally, socially, and in every aspect of the way the U.S. works with other countries. And so we have a very significant number of culturally significant objects and also historical buildings, such as the U.S. Legation in Tangiers, which is now having its 200th anniversary this year. Next slide, please. And this really gives you a sense of what our goals are. These are the goals that we have to try to provide those platforms that we're very focused on, the latest in design, in that MSC FNX concept or priority. You know, we're looking at how we can incorporate the latest technologies, mass timber, digital design and reviews, all the cutting-edge technologies we can use in the work that we do. We're also looking at how we can maintain facilities with the latest technologies, whether remotely or whether with people with the latest skills. We also want to make sure that all of Matt's officials overseas are in some of the best housing. It's safe, secure when we deal with seismic issues, fire issues, and then just concerns about, you know, the political climate. And we're also working on data analytics and management because, again, when we do our design work now, a lot of it is in digital design and we retain huge quantities of data in order to track and manage our properties. So, again, we're looking for people with very technical skills in some cases. We can't do our job without people, so that's why talent management is so critical. That's why I'm here today because I'm really hoping that you'll be interested in looking at Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations as a potential career opportunity. Next slide, please. And like I said in the beginning, we're just looking for such a diversity of people. And these are the kinds of skills that we use, that we need. And so, you know, I hope that people who conceive of working in the State Department and really a policy piece will realize that we actually really want other skills. And we do, you know, I think some amazing work in some of these areas. As you can see, it's just incredible when we look at, you know, we need to provide art and we have wonderful art curators who have been able to identify some of the best up-and-coming artists who go on to win leading prizes in the art world. We also have people, you know, doing very complex environmental analysis and design and engineering. And we're also very concerned about basic safety and health, and so we've got some leading industrial hygienists. And so, you know, it's just a really fascinating workplace to be involved in, and I think it really does open up to people with lots of opportunities to come into the State Department and contribute to the work that the State Department's doing overseas. Next slide, please. And like I said, you know, many of you are students and you're thinking, you know, what could I do? And you can see here that we rely on many sort of streams of employment in order to bring people into the Bureau. And so there are opportunities, even as I speak, to look at how you can be part of the organization. And we do rely a lot on internships. We see the internship processes as a wonderful source of young, new experience to people with really grounding in a lot of new technologies and new approaches and new ideas. You know, as you may have heard, you know, the government is one of the challenges in the U.S. government today is that we have an aging workforce and we really need to bring in people with a lot of vision, spirit, and energy. And so we work through these various programs, like the pathway programs and, you know, the virtual Federal Service program, I think you may be aware, allows you to stay in school but then support the department, virtually. So you can do it while you're still a student. And then these other programs I encourage you to look at. And you can find a lot of information online here, you know, the links there. But with OBO, we also have our own web pages and social media pages. And on LinkedIn, we often put more information on what kind of positions are available, the kinds of things that we're doing, and it's really an opportunity for you to learn more about us and, you know, how you might be able to work with us. So, you know, I've spoken a little bit. I'm not sure if I hit my 10 minutes, but I really wanted to highlight just, you know, how unique our organization is, how important it is to providing that platform for the U.S. government to do its work overseas and how I think it would be a really wonderful opportunity for you to look at and encourage everyone to take the time to go on some of our social media sites to think about or see what we do and think about if it might be something you'd be interested in. So thank you, Candace. Thank you so much, Mr. Jardine. So that really concludes our networking lunch. I hope you all got as much out of this conference and this experience virtually as I did. I'm always learning more about my colleagues, about my agency, the more I interact and engage in what is our keyword, network. So I just have a few things I'm going to say before we wrap up and you hear closing remarks from our acting assistant secretary. I want to thank our producers who made all of this happen. GPA, the public liaison team, the students, the faculty, this was all for you and it's about you. And I'm also going to drop a short URL in the chat box on the conference website for you to take our survey so you can help us do better for next time. So that concludes the networking lunch in our conference so please stay online to hear our closing remarks. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Nicole Chulick and I am the acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of Global Public Affairs. This virtual conference has been a remarkable experience for the entire department of state. Over the past two days, you've had discussions with senior officials and subject matter experts from across the department. Under better circumstances, our annual HBCU conference would have been in person here in Washington. But we worked diligently to produce a packed virtual program to bring to your homes and classrooms. We are delighted that representatives from over 100 HBCUs tuned in. Our bureau reaches thousands of Americans each year through different programs and the secretary has committed to recruiting and retaining a foreign affairs workforce that looks like the United States. One that embodies the strength, the energy, and the creativity are incredibly diverse American population brings to our nation. This is why for 12 years we have made a point of reaching out directly to the HBCU community. Historically black colleges and universities have enabled men and women of all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds, especially African Americans, to assume leadership and service roles in their communities. HBCUs have produced educators, inventors, engineers, scientists, and as you've seen, foreign policy leaders. Our nation's first female and African American vice president has set the tone on the global stage, leading our country alongside President Biden. HBCUs have produced some of our country's best and brightest visionaries, and I'm here to affirm the State Department needs more of that greatness. Here's how we'll do it. Our team in GPA wants to connect with you, your professors, and career advisors, providing us with feedback via our survey will hold us accountable to our outreach strategy. Secondly, my staff is ready to send speakers to your classrooms. Visit the student page on state.gov to request more information on how to bring a State Department official to your campus. Lastly, bridge the gap between your institution and Washington. A great way to do this is by connecting with your diplomat and residence. For every student there is a foreign service officer in your region dedicated to filling that gap with information to prepare you for a career in public service. Over the last two days, you've heard about U.S. foreign policy priorities, received expert career advice from hiring managers and recruiters, and interacted with trailblazers who've climbed the ranks to senior positions. We hope that today's discussion will inspire some of you to consider a career in foreign affairs. As young people and the next generation who will inherit this interdependent world, you have the power to make real change. Thank you again for tuning into our virtual conference and we'll see you next year.