Seth Skelton: international recruiter
Global Education senior associate director Seth Skelton works to promote MSU Texas to international students, March 8.
Seth Skelton, senior associate director of recruiting for the Global Education Office, attended the Snow College university fair held last week in Ephraim, Utah. But Utah is far from the most exciting place Skelton has traveled for his job. He has taken several international trips to South America with recruiting purposes, and more are planned for the Global Education Office.
The Global Education Office at Midwestern State University is devoted to assisting all international students. The Office offers support and direction to the international scholars from the time of initial recruiting all the way through graduation and optional practical training. With this being the focus and priority of the office, Seth Skelton attended a college fair held on the Snow College
campus in Utah. The event was intended to give multiple universities the opportunity to show students the benefits that transferring to their universities can have.
Skelton said the event was well-organized, useful to promote MSU Texas and open to answering questions from potential future students.
“The event at Snow College was incredible. The staff there rolled out the red carpet for me and did a great job of promoting my arrival and I was busy talking with students for almost 2 full days,” Skelton said.
Additionally, Skelton will soon travel to Latin American countries such as Colombia and Ecuador to continue his project of attracting more international students to MSU Texas. Geographically, Latin America is the closest region of the world to Texas that is not a part of the U.S. While MSU historically has not had a large population of Latin American students, there is a young and upwardly mobile population in that part of the world that is ready to explore and study abroad.
Aware of that trend, Skelton highlighted the importance of having face-to-face contact with the students MSU wants to attract, since without in-person contact it is difficult for students from abroad to start their academic studies in the United States.
“Latin American people are literally neighbors to Texas, and when the university is not able to connect with these prospective students we are missing out on these motivated and gifted scholars. If we as a university don’t prioritize physical travel to Latin America it will be difficult to convey the message that they are welcome here,” Skelton said.
Skelton said the recruiting trips benefit not only new and returning international students at MSU, but also those American students who wish to take advantage of their university experience more deeply.
“When domestic students study and live side-by-side with international students it prepares them for a professional environment because many of the country’s largest businesses have a large international workforce. It also promotes tolerance and understanding of people who come may have different ethnicities or cultural backgrounds than them,” Skelton said.
The Global Education Office’s efforts, led by Skelton, have yielded an increase in the number of international students at MSU. With more trips to come, that trend looks likely to continue.
