For the last 10 years, Terry Vice ‘79 has been living a dream he never knew he had.
After graduating with a degree in Psychology from UNC in 1979, Vice was hired as a Police Officer with the Greeley Police Department. 但是，工伤 that left him with no less than 100 stitches around his right eye lead Vice to question 职业道路.
Like many Bears, Vice found himself making an unexpected 职业生涯 change. 在离开 the police force, he started working as a facility manager for State Farm Insurance, 先是格里利，最后是德克萨斯州的达拉斯.
Although Vice enjoyed working as a facility manager for nearly 20 years, he was unable to continue working for State Farm when he returned to Colorado in 2001 to help care 为了他的父母. That lead to a short 职业生涯 in commercial real e状态. 当市场 were tough in the early 2000s, a friend suggested Vice look for real e状态 jobs on USAjobs.政府, but as luck would have it, Vice found something even better.
“I stumbled upon this facility management job, which was exactly the same kind of things that I had done at State Farm Insurance,” Vice says.
Except this job was with the Department of State, overseeing U.S. 在国外的大使馆.
“I applied (without my wife knowing) and probably six months after hitting the submit button, I finally got a package back from the Department of State asking me to come 到华盛顿特区.C. 面试，”Vice说.
从那以后，剩下的都是历史了. After passing health and background checks, Vice 和他的家人搬到了华盛顿特区.C. 五个月的训练.
“In the first portion of that training, they have what they call a flag day and that’s where all of the people in the class that you’re in go to this auditorium and they 说出你的第一个任务. I was lucky enough to get the Spanish flag, which meant that I was going to Madrid,” Vice recalls.
Overseeing everything from daily maintenance and air conditioning to landscaping and midnight plumbing emergencies, Vice enjoys the unpredictable nature of the work that 他所做的.
“I’ve been doing this for about 10 years, but I wish I would have found this much sooner in my 职业生涯, because it’s just such a fascinating job. 你永远不知道什么是 都会发生的，”Vice说.
他曾驻扎在一些美国军事基地.S. Embassies around the globe, everywhere from Georgetown, Guyana and Wellington, 新 Zealand to Islamabad, Pakistan.
“I would say my favorite part is not only the different locations that we get to go to around the world, but also the people who we get to work with. 我们所有人都很高兴 managers, or anybody at the Embassy, we are stationed there as an American to do the diplomatic mission, but we can’t do it without the locally employed staff,” Vice says. “That’s my favorite part, working with those local people and understanding their 文化和看他们的国家.”
Currently stationed in La Paz, Bolivia, Terry and his wife Leslie are soaking up the 当地文化. Although they may not know where the next assignment will lead, they’re enjoying the time they have in La Paz by exploring local festivals like the Alasitas and 参观 local sites like the Mamani Mamani艺术画廊.
Pictured: Terry and his wife Leslie with artist Roberto Mamani Mamani in La Paz, Bolivia.
But exploring the 当地文化 isn’t the only thing Vice enjoys about his job. 甚至 under tight security in Pakistan, Vice has fond memories of his work.
“I think Pakistan has probably been my favorite tour. 尽管压力很大 because of security situation, I really felt like there I was contributing to the 使命，”Vice说. “At the time I was there, we were building a new Embassy compound, so there were a lot of moving parts and a lot of things that had to happen to get us from the old Chancery to the new Chancery. 这是一次非常有益的旅行.”
If living abroad, learning about new cultures and advancing the diplomatic mission of the United States sounds like a dream for you too, Vice says opportunities abound.
“这里有许多不同的职业. 我被派去的任何一个大使馆 to, I’ve always been a facility manager, but there are other people in the organization who are classified as officers and they can kind of move around and do different things. Maybe they work in Consular and the next tour maybe they work in the political economic section. Maybe some students want to be in the diplomatic security service, which 真的很不一样. They are our law enforcement branch here, that help keep 我们的安全. There’s just a multitude of opportunities,” Vice says.
To explore open opportunities and see if your dream job is waiting, Vice suggests 参观 www.状态.政府 了解更多. You can also contact Vice directly with any questions about working 给国务院的 ViceTL@状态.政府.
