As an international student from the United Arab Emirates, Kaltham Altaher spent her last semester as a Michigan State University undergraduate not in East Lansing but rather at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Embassy in Washington, D.C., where she did research for the embassy as a Political Affairs Intern. She even served as emcee for a conference that drew members of Congress, diplomats, and NASA employees.

Following this four-month internship, Altaher graduated from MSU in Spring 2024 with a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies and a double minor in History and Leadership of Organization.

As an intern in the embassy’s Political Department, Altaher conducted research and received opportunities to strengthen her skills in communication and diplomacy.

“I was so blessed to have such an incredible internship where all my mentors were so lovely and taught me everything I needed to know to become a diplomat.”

“I was so blessed to have such an incredible internship where all my mentors were so lovely and taught me everything I needed to know to become a diplomat,” she said. “They told me how to speak, what to say, and how I should work within the embassy.”

Aside from networking with diplomatic professionals and learning from her mentors, Altaher worked with the United Nations and participated in the annual Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum that was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City April 16-18.

At the forum, Altaher saw aspiring diplomats from around the world engage in global issues and focus on sustainable development goals. The two-day conference included sessions that encouraged participants to talk to each other about the issues they are passionate about, that affected their country, or for which they are focusing their careers and/or studies.

“It was an amazing privilege to meet delegates from different types of the world,” Altaher said. “I met the minister of youth in Uganda, and I met the UN representative from Chile. I met the people in the court — a lot of young people from different parts of the world who are passionate about global solutions.”

Another opportunity had her working as an emcee for the UAE-US Peace Collaboration, held March 8 in Washington, D.C., which discussed topics related to the UAE-US Space Collaboration on the Gateway Lunar Space Station.

As emcee, she introduced the opening remarks and spoke to ambassadors, astronauts, and members of Congress from the United States and her home country. Most notably, she spoke with the UAE’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sultan Al-Neyadi, who was the first Arab astronaut deployed on a six-month space mission aboard the International Space Station.

“It was an amazing experience,” Altaher said. “I’ve done a lot of public speaking in my classes where I see familiar faces, but when it came to doing it in front of professional diplomats, NASA members, members of Congress, and other delegates, I was so nervous. But I was also really excited because I had that opportunity to shine.”

Reflecting on her internship, Altaher acknowledges the role her MSU education has played in shaping her career journey.

“It was an amazing experience. I’ve done a lot of public speaking in my classes where I see familiar faces, but when it came to doing it in front of professional diplomats, NASA members, members of Congress, and other delegates, I was so nervous. But I was also really excited because I had that opportunity to shine.”

“MSU prepared me to face a lot of challenges,” she said. “I didn’t know that being a diplomat meant I needed to know so much about public issues or health issues that people are facing and interested in voting-wise. I thought those were topics that people tended to avoid if they didn’t major in them, but I felt like majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies prepared me for this by teaching me those social issues so I could understand them and connect them. I love my major and I did not have any doubts about it whatsoever.”

When Altaher first came to MSU, she initially leaned towards taking a more conventional political path by majoring in political science or international relations. However, she saw studying Women’s and Gender Studies as a way to introduce fresh perspectives into the diplomatic discourse. In high school, she researched the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a list of 17 global goals ranging from climate change to gender equality, which the organization hopes to achieve by 2030, and saw how a background in Women’s and Gender Studies could help provide actionable solutions to these goals.

“I saw how studying Women’s and Gender Studies might help answer many questions within the Sustainable Development Goals and show what youth and students can do to make a change in society,” Altaher said. “We’re not only focusing on women’s and genders. We’ll also focus on history, race, ethnicity, and how to engage with people of different backgrounds so we can begin to understand how they feel and how to help them face their struggles and change the community we are in.”

Altaher completed all her class and research requirements during the Fall 2023 semester, allowing her to dedicate the Spring 2024 semester entirely to her internship in Washington, D.C., and carrying these skills and educational background into her internship helped ease the transition into the unfamiliar professional sphere.

Now an MSU graduate, Altaher remains dedicated to representing her home country as a diplomat on a global stage.

“Maybe I will be a diplomat in the United States one day or in the UN, but my dream is to represent my country and make a change in the world,” she said. “But mostly, I want to be a diplomat in the UN because I love their work and what they’re doing to change the world.”