Tiffany Venmahavong '17

As a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department, Tiffany Venmahavong ’17 helps to foster dialogue between the United States and other countries and advance diplomatic initiatives that impact the entire world. The job requires fortitude, global perspective, keen analysis skills, and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing situations and different cultures–all skills she learned as a Bryant International Business (IB) student.

“Bryant has helped me excel academically, professionally and personally,” she notes.

Through Bryant’s globally-focused coursework, Venmahavong, who hails from Woonsocket, RI, learned how to develop innovative and effective solutions to international problems and work with people and cultures around the world. As part of her first-year Global Foundations class, she and her team won recognition for a creative business approach to solving a current world issue. Her International Business coursework ensured she could lead teams, succeed in a wide range of roles and work in any environment. In her IB capstone practicum, she acted as a consultant for a real client company on creating international development and expansion plans–taking into account everything from local customs to worldwide trends.

Venmahavong's Bryant experience also nurtured her fascination with global culture. During her junior year, she spent a transformative semester at East China Normal University in Shanghai, learning about international business and Chinese society. As a member of the Bryant University Multicultural Student Organization, she worked to educate the Bryant community about other countries by assisting with informational sessions and other programming.

In her senior year, Venmahavong, the daughter of Laotian immigrants and the first member of her family to go to college, was named a Fulbright scholar and awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Scholarship, a prestigious honor recognizing her talents, her education and her commitment to helping others.  “International development has always been a passion of mine,” she notes. As a teacher and program designer at American Center in the city of Vientiane, Laos, Venmahavong empowered future leaders through programs emphasizing design thinking, media literacy, and social entrepreneurship – aptitudes she cultivated while at Bryant.

Throughout the Fulbright selection process, Venmahavong, who also received a prestigious Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, was supported by the Bryant Scholars program, which provides guidance for undergraduates and recent graduates applying for fellowships. "This award would never have been possible without the Bryant Scholars program," she says. "Even after graduation, the Bryant community and alumni connection were there to provide career support and mentorship."

Venmahavong, who recently received her Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University in the City of New York, says it was that very culture of support that sets Bryant students apart, no matter their major. “Bryant has a culture that inspires students to be the best versions of themselves, and that means excelling in everything they do,” she says.

Real World Experience