U.S. State Department comes to Georgia Southwestern State
Published 11:30 am Wednesday, March 8, 2017
- From left are Alison Mann, Ph.D., and Ashley Bell of the U.S. State Department with Sarah Speir, Ph.D., GSW director of International Programs, following a presentation about the U.S. Diplomacy Center.
AMERICUS — Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) recently hosted two members from the U.S. Department of State. Alison Mann, Ph.D., from the U.S. Diplomacy Center, and Ashley Bell, special assistant to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were on campus Monday.
Mann spent the entire day on campus giving presentations and leading diplomacy simulations with students and faculty. Bell, a native of Gainesville, Ga., and graduate of Valdosta State University, led a question and answer session with students and gave valuable insights on how to begin a career with the State Department. Mann and Bell are currently traveling to Georgia colleges to help educate students on the role of the State Department under the theme “Discover Diplomacy.”
The events of the day were all connected with GSW’s “Windows to the World” initiative — a campus-wide endeavor to integrate intercultural learning opportunities for students through co-curricular and curricular programs.
Alison Mann, Ph.D., center, and Ashley Bell, back right, from the U.S. State Department with Georgia Southwestern State University students following a question and answer session.
“Hopefully this encourages students to go out and interact and engage in jobs and careers that involve learning languages and interacting with other cultures,” said Sarah Speir, Ph.D., director of GSW International Programs. “These are very critical 21st century skills.”
After their visit to GSW, the State Department representatives traveled to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, and were planning visits other schools in South Georgia.
