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Today Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) welcomed Ambassador Arnold Chacon to Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) to give remarks on the importance of students and young professionals pursuing careers at the State Department and across the federal government. Joining Ambassador Chacon, who served as the U.S. government’s top representative to Guatemala from 2011 to 2014, were Diplomat in Residence John Roberts and State Department Recruiter Faisal Khan. Ambassador Chacon currently serves as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the State Department.

The visit by the State Department officials coincided with TAMIU’s Business and Hospitality Career Fair, held today in the university’s Student Center Rotunda.

“It is vital that we encourage greater diversity, especially among Hispanics, in the workforce at the State Department and across the federal government,” Congressman Cuellar said. “Currently, there are roughly 54 million Hispanics living in the U.S. Despite making up 17 percent of the population in 2015, they only represented 8.4 percent of the federal civilian workforce, according to the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management. In order to ensure a federal government with unique ability and perspectives, we should place a special emphasis on recruiting, hiring, retaining and promoting multilingual talent from diverse backgrounds. Luckily, this sort of work has already begun at the State Department. That is why I personally invited Ambassador Chacon to Laredo, where the Department could see our diverse group of promising college students and working professionals. I thank President Keck and the excellent staff at TAMIU for encouraging students to apply and for making this event a success.”

“We’re here to recruit diverse, talented men and women who can effectively carry out the Department’s mission of shaping a peaceful, prosperous, just and democratic world,” said Ambassador Chacon. “We thank Congressman Cuellar for extending this opportunity to speak with the students at TAMIU.”

Congressman Cuellar holds a master’s degree in international trade from TAMIU. He also served as an adjunct professor there in international commercial law from 1984 to 1986.