Federal official discusses diplomacy program with Albany mayor, Albany State president

ALBANY — Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and Albany State University President Art Dunning held separate meetings with Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Ashley Bell last week to discuss Albany State’s and other regional colleges’ possible participation in a Global Policy Institute-related program that could prepare local students for positions in the upper levels of the federal government.

Both Hubbard and Dunning said they were encouraged by their meetings with Bell, a former Hall County commissioner who was appointed by President Trump to serve as a special assistant to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“The State Department has, typically, recruited students (for diplomatic careers) from the Northeast and at schools near the capital, like Georgetown,” Dunning said after meeting with Bell. “I’m encouraged that the department, and particularly Mr. Bell, are reaching out into our area to provide these opportunities. This is not something that’s going to solely impact Albany State, it’s going to impact the entire Southeastern part of the country.

“And while the specific (Global Policy Institute) initiative is designed to recruit students for possible diplomatic careers, it’s going to teach students the valuable ‘soft skills’ they’ll need to succeed in any business environment.”

Bell had initially planned to pitch the program at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus and at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, but with a little coaxing from Hubbard and from city of Albany state lobbyist Rufus Montgomery, the State Department official was persuaded to add ASU to his itinerary.

“When Mr. Montgomery told me about (Bell’s plans to pitch the program) in our region, I knew there was no way he was going to come into our area and not talk with our students at Albany State,” the Albany mayor said. “I knew Mr. Bell from when he was a commissioner in Hall County — met him first at a mayors’ conference, I believe — and I encouraged Rufus to reach out (to Bell) and facilitate a meeting here.

“(As a retired educator), something like this goes back to my love for education. But I also want our students at Albany State and in the region to be a part of the discussion of bringing a diplomacy program here. I think this is something that can definitely work here, and I don’t think (Bell) will have any trouble getting a buy-in at Albany State and other colleges in the region.”

Dunning, who touts Albany State’s quest for new and innovative ways to educate its students in an editorial that appears in today’s Albany Herald, said involvement in Bell’s proposed diplomatic program would be a major step in that direction.

“When you look at what’s going on around the world, you easily see that there are a lot of skills — especially diplomatic skills — that are needed to solve the problems we’re facing,” the ASU president said. “Developing those kinds of skills in young people is, I believe, essential to the future not only of our country but of the entire global community.

“The program I discussed with Mr. Bell is student-centered, student focused, so it is very much in keeping with the opportunities we provide at Albany State University. And even if our students turn their focus closer to home, the same skills that are utilized by diplomats are the skills needed to talk with the business people of Southwest Georgia, at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, at Procter & Gamble, at MillerCoors.”

Hubbard said that while the program Bell discussed focuses mainly on training college students, she would like to see high school students brought into the mix.

“So many students — even at the college level — don’t start focusing in on their careers until they’re close to graduation,” Hubbard said. “I think that we would serve our community and our local colleges well by identifying high school students who are well-suited for this program and who show an interest in the kind of diplomatic careers that are available.

“If we let our students know what’s available at an early age, I think they’ll go into college better prepared to take part in this kind of program.”

Dunning said his conversation with Bell was “a starting point.”

“I got the impression this program is going to be a process,” the Albany State president said. “Mr. Bell was seeking, I believe, my level of interest in such a program, and I assured him my level of interest is intense. I want our students to have these global opportunities. And I think our involvement would assure the people in our region that we’re constantly adding new assets to our curriculum as we look to become an active participant in an education that has a global reach.”