Van Nguyen

Van Nguyen is originally from the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam and immigrated to the United States at a young age to reunite with her family. She earned a degree in Anthropology and Sociology with a concentration in criminal justice and a minor in international studies from Towson University. During her undergraduate years, she had the opportunity to participate in initiatives such as the Inside-Out Prison Exchange and Alternative Breaks where she attended classes with returned citizens in Baltimore and Detroit to understand the ethics of mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. She also studied abroad in London, which broadened her perspective on crime and punishment across nations. Curious to learn new cultures and values different from her own, she led efforts to showcase global traditions and encourage students to share their heritage through the campus’s international student group. 

Upon graduation, she started her career in refugee resettlement. She utilized strengths-based approaches to alleviate barriers for newly arrived refugees while supporting them in acquiring essential benefits, employment, financial literacy, and community resources. Prior to coming to the GHD program, she was a program officer for a federal employment program at Global Refuge, where she provided technical assistance and monitored refugee service providers across the network. Her work focused on increasing program capacity, improving implementation, and minimizing negative outcomes in alignment with the Office of Refugee Resettlement directives. 

Her career goal is to continue improving the quality of life of the people she serves and promoting self-sufficiency through economic empowerment and educational programming. During her travels to remote areas of the world, she witnessed innovations in communities, and it sparked her interest in public service on a global scale. She wants to deepen her development skills and expand her knowledge of foreign aid programs.

In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, practicing yoga, exploring new plants for her mini gardens and is an advocate for solo traveling.

Summer internship

This summer, I interned with the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Migration Management Unit in the Philippines, supporting work on labor migration, migrant protection, and diaspora engagement. I joined IOM curious about the livelihoods and economic factors that drive migration and left with a deeper understanding of the migration governance system. My work included contributing to a review documenting fifty years of civil society’s contributions to migrant protection and advocacy in the Philippines, supporting consultations and workshops on cross-border protection and ethical recruitment, and exploring opportunities to mobilize diaspora engagement for national and local development. These experiences showed me how multilateral work across government, civil society, the private sector, and communities can strengthen regular migration pathways across the Asia-Pacific region, and how governments build institutional infrastructure to support their overseas workforce. 

A highlight was visiting a community-led bamboo propagation initiative in a climate-prone region, where I saw how a livelihood solution developed by local entrepreneurs could be scaled through technical assistance and public-private support. The experience strengthened my ability to connect human-centered approaches with systems-level analysis and further shaped my interests in sustainable livelihoods, economic inclusion, and labor markets.