USAID Partnership

FIU and USAID sign historic agreement to increase jobs, internships and research opportunities for students

USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the agency plans to “be more intentional” about recruitment and hiring at FIU.

“We are the promise of one people, one breath declaring to one another: I see you. I need you. I am you.”

In citing a line from inaugural poet and FIU alumnus Richard Blanco ‘91, MFA ‘97, Samantha Power, the Irishborn administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) noted how “inextricably linked” the world has become.

Just as FIU has served as a “port of hope” for students whose families fled persecution from around the world, Power said USAID now plans to become a “gateway for FIU students” through jobs and internships, as well as mentorships, research opportunities and more.

Power joined Interim President Kenneth A. Jessell in signing a new partnership to promote hiring, retention and career advancement among under-represented groups in the agency’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and throughout USAID.

“If we are to be the best of America, then we must recruit and hire staff that reflects the best of America,’’ Power said, noting that while the agency has a staff that is 18%

FIU Interim President Kenneth A. Jessell with USAID Administrator Samantha Power after the signing of the MOU

USAID Administrator Samantha Power, far left, meets with FIU

students from Ukraine. Power was on campus to sign an agreement to recruit more FIU students to the federal agency.

Hispanic, only 4% of its overall workforce is Hispanic. FIU is the nation’s largest Hispanic-serving unversity.

“We need you,’’ she told an audience of students, faculty and university leaders in the gallery of the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs. “We are facing daunting challenges. We are swinging our doors open to you.”

As part of the agreement, FIU’s Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) will work with USAID to identify internships, training opportunities, faculty and speaker exchanges, as well as research and mentorship opportunities for minorities and other under-represented groups.

“We’re ready and able to do this work and, quite frankly, we’re the right team for the job,’’ Jessell said, noting that FIU has the largest cluster of students and faculty in the country focused on the study of the Latin American and Caribbean region.

“We represent the future of our nation,’’ he said. “Here, at the nation’s fourth largest university, excellence and social mobility converge in a unique way to make a real impact where and when it matters most.”

“What could be better than that?’’ noted Power, a Pulitzerwinning author who also served as the youngest U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Following the formal signing ceremony, Power spoke with students interested in applying for internships and jobs at USAID and toured various USAID research collaborations at FIU, including at the Institute of Environment, the Center for Administration of Justice and the Extreme Events Institute.