Government official talks specialization
September 2, 2010
By Taylor Moak
A question and answer session with someone high in the U.S. government is not the everyday occurrence for college students. But, several UK students got that opportunity Wednesday when Suresh Kumar came to campus.
After a short opening address, Kumar, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, gave students time to ask him questions about the global marketplace and international jobs.
In order to get jobs in the international marketplace, Kumar encouraged students to specialize their tasks and abilities and to focus on the regions where they want to work.
“The reality of today’s world, though, is specialization,” Kumar said.
Carey Cavanaugh, director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, said he wanted Kumar’s visit to be a “give and take” session for the students.
“The nice thing was that it wasn’t a speech,” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh said the crowd was made up of Patterson School students, law students, business students and other undergraduates.
Leo Weisberger, political science junior, was one of those other undergraduates.
Weisberger said he liked the informality of Kumar’s talk.
“(It’s) the first time I’ve seen a discussion that involved,” Weisberger said.
Kumar’s session was the second in a series of international speakers, which Cavanaugh organized.
In August, Special Representative Farah Anwar Pandith for the U.S. Department of State was on campus. Pandith is the U.S. representative to Muslim communities around the world
On Oct. 1, Senior Foreign Service Officer Michael McClellan will talk to students about careers in the Foreign Service and will host workshops on written and oral exams to get into the Foreign Service.
