Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Russ Houston
STARKVILLE, Miss.--After receiving a political science degree from Mississippi State University in 1973, William L. "Bill" Riley envisioned making a difference on the national stage.
He went on to complete a public administration master's degree at Indiana University and returned to Mississippi to work for five years as a Starkville community planner and developer.
For Riley, the chance of a lifetime came in 1981 when the U.S. Agency for International Development offered him a position as a project development officer in the Philippines.
USAID, created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy's executive order, grew to become the nation's lead agency for managing economic and development assistance overseas.
Ten job titles and 34 years later, Riley works now in Washington, D.C., as a senior program specialist in the Division for Strategic Planning and Program Management of USAID's Bureau for the Middle East.
He returned to MSU on Thursday [March 26] as featured speaker for the International Institute's Global Engagement Forum in Colvard Student Union. Riley shared information with faculty members, administrators and others interested in international research opportunities with USAID, including funding priorities, partnership opportunities and pathways to engagement.
"It's good to be home," Riley said. "I have been watching this university for a number of years as Mississippi State works to rise on the international scene and raise its global profile in international eyes.
"I hope I can enlighten you today on how you might join the USAID initiatives to interconnect with your research."
He encouraged faculty members to reach out to their existing contacts and seek to develop international relationships. By working with contractors already involved in USAID initiatives--humanitarian response or food security projects, among others--he said MSU researchers could position themselves to complete initiatives that assist USAID's missions and goals.
Riley said MSU's top-tier faculty and status as the state's flagship research institution enable the 136-year-old land-grant institution to compete with all other postsecondary schools nationwide.
"The habitat where humanity and nature collide; addressing that issue through your research is exactly what you want to do," Riley said. "Mississippi State's international reach can bring people together around a problem, and they will come up with a solution."
Riley said he would be on campus through much of Friday [March 27] and encouraged audience members and others to seek him out for additional USAID information.
For more about MSU's International Institute, visit www.international.msstate.edu.
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