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NGA leadership visits HBCU to increase partnership

 Dec. 18, 2018

 Erica Fouché
 NGA Office of Corporate Communications

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leadership visited Fayetteville State University, a historically black college in North Carolina, Dec. 3, to meet with faculty and staff and to promote NGA’s internship program to prospective recruits.

NGA Director Robert Cardillo speaks with a Fayetteville State University student.
NGA Director Robert Cardillo speaks with a Fayetteville State University student.

While on campus, NGA Director Robert Cardillo met with Chancellor James Anderson to discuss developing a “GEOINT pipeline” for incoming college freshmen. Cardillo also shared NGA’s mission overview brief to more than 120 students, encouraging those students enrolled in liberal arts courses to consider NGA as a future employer.

“We are excited to attract, recruit, and retain, a well-rounded of diverse individuals,” said Brentney Gray, NGA campus recruiter. “When college students want more than a job, we encourage them to come learn what our mission can offer.”

Julius Brittman, FSU geography student was eager to engage with Cardillo following his remarks.

"Getting to listen to Director Cardillo speak was very informative," said Brittman. "His visit brought a great deal of clarity towards my future career goals. He offered insight in regards to my asking about whether joining the military would aid in my pursuit of a government job."

The University’s geography department faculty also briefed Cardillo on their recent accomplishments, touting a FSU Geography major’s 2018 internship at NGA and full-time employment offer.

“Director Cardillo crucially motivated the students in various majors to not only broaden their knowledge toward GEOINT but also sharpen their geospatial intelligence tradecraft, which in turn helps them to be more successful after graduation when participating in the 21st-century workforce,” said Trung Tran, Ph.D., FSU Assistant Geography Professor.

In 2012, NGA awarded FSU a 5-year grant to develop a geospatial intelligence certificate program within their government and history department to serve and educate their undergraduate and graduate population. The key objective of the grant was to prepare the students for GEOINT research or analytical positions within NGA, or elsewhere within the intelligence community, National System for Geospatial Intelligence or the GEOINT industry. To date, FSU is the only HBCU in the nation that offers the accredited U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Certification.

“We are hoping that the collaboration between NGA and FSU will continue to rise so that NGA can conduct more informational and recruiting sessions on FSU campus, become involved in FSU career development events, sponsor our geospatial events, and introduce speakers to our geospatial classes,” said Tran.

NGA will next host members of FSU’s Geoscience Student Association at its Springfield, Virginia headquarters during spring break in March 2019.