Office of Surface Mining & Bluefield State College
Launch Partnership to Enhance
Training and
Opportunities for Minority Students
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During a recent signing ceremony, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSM) and Bluefield State College entered into a partnership to expand opportunities for BSC’s minority students and assist OSM in augmenting the diversity and capabilities of its work force. Pictured during the ceremony are (seated, left-to-right) Roger Calhoun, Director/Charleston Field Office, Dr. Albert Walker, BSC President, and OSM’s Thomas Morgan, Chief of Program Support for the Charleston Field Office, along with (standing) Terry Thompson, BSC Program Manager. |
(Bluefield—Through a recently signed agreement, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSM) and Bluefield State College are now partnering to expand opportunities for BSC’s minority students and assist OSM in augmenting the diversity and capabilities of its work force.
OSM’s Thomas Morgan, Chief of Program Support for the Charleston Field Office and Roger Calhoun, Director/Charleston Field Office contacted BSC Program Manager Terry Thompson in March of this year to propose the partnership with the College. “The Office of Surface Mining seeks to work with Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Bluefield State to encourage minority students to take specific types of courses, primarily those that are science and math-based, that are needed for careers with OSM,” Ms. Thompson explained.
“We are pleased to partner with BSC to encourage young people to move forward in science fields that will be needed in the future, even if the work is not with OSM, Field Office Director Calhoun added. “Also, OSM people gain just by the interaction with BSC and its students.”
Through the agreement, which was signed on August 27 by BSC President Dr. Albert Walker and Mr. Calhoun, OSM will provide assistance to BSC in areas that include:
- disseminating information about OSM’s annual selection of Applied Science projects;
- providing technical experts as guest lecturers;
- broadening students’ technical knowledge and career horizons;
- developing a more diverse cadre of potential OSM professionals, and;
- enhancing technical capabilities of OSM.
“This is an exciting agreement and I am confident it will work to the benefit of both Bluefield State College and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,” Dr. Walker said, following a brief signing ceremony at BSC.
Additional information can be obtained by contacting Roger Calhoun (304-347-7158 or rcalhoun@osmre.gov) or Terry Thompson (304-327-4424 or tthompson@bluefieldstate.edu).
September 4, 2007
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