2016 Global Studies alumni, Stephen Rowe, is a Government Information Specialist with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If you ever lay awake at night, wondering what an Information Specialist did, wonder no more.
“My job is to redact protected information from alien files requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Every day I see around ten snapshots of what’s going on in the immigration system, or what happened in the past, from the everyday people applying for naturalization to the court proceedings of traffickers and asylum cases. It’s more interesting than it sounds, but still tedious.”
“The selection process was fairly simple. It was a Pathways-Recent Graduates opening, so I was only competing with others who graduated within two years. There was no special test, just twenty questions relating to the job skill set and, eventually, the interview. Somewhere along the way, I lucked out. It wasn’t a job I was specifically looking for, but I’m glad I threw an application at it. It was about eight months from the time I applied to my first day.”
“The coursework at Missouri State University was better preparation than I originally expected. Countless hours spent digging through articles for key information is the most obvious carryover. The ability to make concise notes is another asset. The focus on substance and clarity over length that my professors had is an advantage over several of my coworkers. The most common complaint I hear about is excessively long notes on cases, a problem I don’t share.”
“By far the most useful aspect from my education is having learned to use perspectives I don’t necessarily believe in. Political theories are more interesting than interpretations of FOIA law, but it’s useful to be able to apply multiple viewpoints that I don’t entirely agree with, especially when they become mutually exclusive. Being able to buy-in to others’ perspectives long enough to accomplish a task is invaluable.”