Alumni Profiles
Mary Vargas
MPIA '08
Mary Vargas is currently serving her first tour in the U.S. Foreign Service as a consular officer in Tijuana, Mexico in the American Citizen Services Unit. She joined the Foreign Service as an economic officer immediately following graduation from IR/PS in 2008.
Upon arriving in Tijuana, Mary saw an opportunity to put skills learned at IR/PS to use. She engaged members of the local community to form a board of trustees for a Mexican nonprofit organization that provides shelter to children of prisoners in Tijuana. Mary began working with the organization while a student at IR/PS, and has encouraged her Foreign Service colleagues to join in the effort by securing several State Department grants for the shelter and volunteering.
Mary will serve next as a political officer in Karachi, Pakistan, where she hopes to continue using diplomacy to further development and social justice goals.
