Marvin G. Richardson
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (January 21, 2022) – Prairie View A&M University students will have a chance next week to visit with the head of a federal agency and learn pertinent information about law enforcement and navigating the federal government.
Justice studies students and members of the campus at large are invited to attend a class featuring Marvin G. Richardson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. in the Don K. Clark Building Auditorium. The visit offers potential networking and career opportunities as well.
“This is the first time in recent past that the head of a federal agency is visiting campus,” said Camille Gibson, Ph.D., interim dean of PVAMU’s College of Juvenile Justice. “PV is pleased to have very engaged federal alumni and other HBCU alumni friends who have been mentoring our students.”
A Fort Worth native with degrees conferred by two Texas universities (a B.A. in business administration from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in human relations and business from Amberton University), Richardson has both family members and friends who have graduated from PVAMU. “He has taken a personal interest in having his staff facilitate a pipeline for Prairie View students to access internship and career opportunities with the ATF,” said Gibson, “with an eye toward forging a long-term relationship well into the future.”
Richardson has served with ATF (the agency is still known by its earlier, shorter acronym) since 1989 when he left the University of North Texas Police Department. He later graduated from the FBI’s 226th National Academy. Gibson said that Richardson would discuss serving in law enforcement at the intersection of race and justice, internship and career opportunities at ATF.
Gibson said that while many criminal justice graduates pursue investigative or law enforcement-type careers, ATF also offers opportunities for students interested in positions centering on criminalistics, financial matters and accounting, human resources and the like. She encouraged any student interested in a career with any federal agency to attend.
“A visit like this is evidence of this agency’s commitment to creating opportunities for students,” she added. “Many federal agencies need diversity, and purposeful activities such as this sort of campus visit is a way to demonstrate commitment to this and to let students see possibilities beyond their immediate settings.”
Visit organizers Gibson, Waller County resident Dewayne Charleston, and PVAMU’s Herbert Thomas and Rhonda Levi encourage all attendees to wear masks.
-PVAMU-