James Truong, Class of 2021, is a Presidential Management Fellow at USAID, based in Washington, D.C. USAID is a government development agency whose mission is to advance national security and to foster economic prosperity worldwide.
Truong came to law school interested in a career in public or government service. He became interested in applying for a presidential management fellowship during summer 2020 while working as an intern with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with a colleague who was a PMF.
Presidential Management Fellows are selected for a two-year leadership development program that serves as a gateway to a permanent professional career in government service.
Truong’s interest in international law and policy and humanitarian aid led him to apply to join the staff of USAID, where he focuses on labor and employment issues.
“USAID has a mission that I could get behind, and I had an opportunity to focus on employee and labor relations, areas I’d gained exposure to as an intern at the EEOC and in my Employment Law and Employment Discrimination classes at Vanderbilt,” he said.
Truong earned his undergraduate degree in accounting at the University of Florida before earning his law degree at Vanderbilt. During law school, he worked as a legal intern at the ACLU of Tennessee, Disability Rights Tennessee and Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors, a legal nonprofit that serves immigrants, in addition to his internship with the EEOC.