Supporting Minority Students at US State Dept, International Boundary and Water Commission

Information for this profile was provided by Mark Howe, US State Dept, International Boundary and Water Commission. Information is also available on the program website.

Jump Down To: Context | Attracting New Students | Supporting Our Majors | Preparing Students for Careers | Additional Information

US State Dept, International Boundary and Water Commission

Context

The USIBWC supports hiring individuals whose skill sets match our focus of work along the U.S.- Mexico border. We actively recruit on USAJOBS and with outreach to universities and our own staff. We hire many individuals with disabilities, veterans and minorities to keep a diverse pool of talent and cultures. We hire many Engineers for water, environmental and in house business operations and those in other critical skills. As part of this hiring I work with many students outside of work to help them in processing paperwork, education and teaching. My work is in the environmental field at the USIBWC but I also work with others at UTEP as I am developing a textbook on teaching the visually disabled geology. Our recruitment of those who are minorities, veterans and the disabled has increased over the last several years as we actively approach those with the skill sets to help in securing a Federal job.

Attracting New Students

Since we are a federal agency, we recruit off of USAJOBS. Many students do not know how to navigate this system but many employees actively help those in need to navigate this.
I actively work with students at UTEP in all manners of helping them in to be hired by the USIBWC. I help on disseminating new or open positions and in understanding ADA if they have a disability.

Supporting Our Majors

In the past we had a summer internship program. With recent federal cost cutting measures, we do not have this anymore. I am actively trying to work into our agency a volunteer program that would help students gain much needed skills to qualify for positions.

Preparing Students for Careers

We actively try to work with people who are interested in what the USIBWC does and where we work. Many of the Engineering positions require a math-based education, much like the geosciences, and we work with to help them and mentor their progress. As positions open, we get the information out to them and guide them along the hiring application process.

Addition Information

I am working on a textbook on teaching the visually disabled geology. I use this to help those with disabilities to know they can do this and that there are jobs out there they can be hired for even with a disability.