The Cox-State Department Diplomacy Seminar, a three-day career-exploration program, is a diversity initiative designed to expose students at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions to careers in foreign service.
Photo by Matthew Pickett, US Diplomacy Center
“It was extremely helpful,” said Greene, an international studies major. “I wanted to get more information and it was a good opportunity to learn. The most impactful part for me was actually meeting foreign service officers and speaking to different people and hearing about their journeys getting to the State Department. It just gave me another option for my life.”
Greene, who is exploring graduate school programs that would further her career aims, was one of 27 college students selected to be part of the inaugural seminar last November.
The Una Chapman Cox Foundation had worked with the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania to survey HBCUs and HSIs about their students’ exposure to diplomatic careers and obstacles, said foundation program manager Nicole Brzozowski.
The Cox Foundation collaborated with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Recruitment, Examination, and Employment and the CloseUp Foundation to develop and launch the pilot seminar.
