Carl Remmes | 04/18/23 | 5-minute read
Mara Huber is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning at University at Buffalo. Mara has many years of experience in humanitarian service work, with particular focus in the Mara Region of Tanzania. Mara has provided some incredible insight to those who are interested in humanitarian efforts!
1) What is your educational background and how did it influence your decision to engage in humanitarian efforts?
I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology. Although I started out as a Professor, I was eager to create my own path, and gave up my position at SUNY Fredonia to join UB in a professional staff role. I was always very focused on community engagement and connecting students with the broader world, helping them find their sense of power and purpose. My early work at UB started with educational partnerships but developed into Experiential Learning and the creation of the ELN Project Portal. We connect students with projects and partners all over the world including West and East Africa. I have also led study abroad trips to Tanzania and I serve as a mentor for young African leaders through YALI (Young African Leaders Initiative). I currently have mentees in Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. It’s really amazing to collaborate and support community leaders who are doing such important humanitarian work. I guess that’s my model- rather than doing the work myself, I mentor those who are doing the work, or ready to do the work. There is so much potential- I just try to do my part..
2) What are ways that you would recommend breaking into the field?
Many students are interested in pursuing careers in sustainability or global development but have no idea how to access related opportunities. I think Experiential Learning, and ELN projects specifically, are a great way to get experience, make connections, and earn digital badges which can be leveraged for other high-impact opportunities. If students visit the ELN Project Portal, they can browse our SDG Project Challenges (hyperlink). We feature Locally-Led Development and Sustainability (LLDS) partners who are doing the work of the SDGs in vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Students are invited to engage through customized projects that add value while supporting their own academic and professional goals. I have seen students leverage these projects to gain access to graduate programs, medical school, paid internships, and other exciting opportunities. It’s a wonderful place to get started and I invite all interested students to email me to explore possibilities.
3) What do you wish you would have known prior to entering the humanitarian world?
I wish I had known the importance of doing and stretching outside of your comfort zone, getting close to communities and ideas, working to understand and build context. Volunteering is a great way to do this, or doing a service learning course, a global project, or study abroad. I think students often view these activities as outside their core undergraduate work- but they are so valuable and can be a launch pad for a fulfilling and impactful career in the humanitarian sectors. I wish I would have realized this when I was in college. Even though I knew I wanted to have a career helping others, I kept in my own bubble and missed out on a lot. I see UB students doing the same thinking that their humanitarian efforts will start when they get into a graduate program or find the right job. There is absolutely no reason to wait.
4) What organizations, clubs or internships were you involved in during college? How did those experiences help prepare you for a humanitarian role?
To be honest, I was never really involved in humanitarian efforts until I was well into adulthood. I ended up meeting some nuns from Tanzania on Christmas Day 2007 and learned about the struggles facing girls in their region (that happens to share my name, Mara). The nuns were looking for partners to help them build a school for girls and I was doing partnership work at the time, so I began to explore ways that I could help them. That was really how my humanitarian work and focus started- being curious and wanting to make a difference, exploring opportunities within my sphere of influence. I ended up taking the first UB group to visit Tanzania in 2009- I brought a number of Deans and leaders from UB to explore possible collaboration and engagement around education, health, economics and infrastructure. This trip led to my work around global engagement and virtual projects- work that continues to evolve in really interesting and important ways.
5) What are the biggest challenges that you typically face in your role?
I think there is a general belief that if an organization has a humanitarian focus, then it must be good and worthy of supporting or working with. This is unfortunately not the case. You need to look closely at organizations and systems and make sure you are comfortable not only with their mission and goals but also their business model and the way they engage with their communities and stakeholders. Many of our humanitarian systems are quite broken and dysfunctional. It’s taken me a while to recognize this and develop the sensitivity and comfort level necessary to say no thank you or explain that there is not a good fit. If we’re not careful, our desire to help people can put us at risk of being taken advantage of or undervalued or even complicit in the dysfunction. It’s important to have a strong sense of purpose, worth but also clear boundaries.
6) What should a student or alumni do to prepare for a career in humanitarian development?
I would suggest going further to clarify your interests and specific ways you would like to offer humanitarian support. Often, students know that they want to help people, but lack clarity beyond that realization. Certain majors present obvious opportunities for humanitarian work, but in reality you can make a humanitarian contribution through so many avenues and disciplines. If you can identify specific communities of interest or issues or challenges that speak to you and your sense of purpose, you can begin to explore gaps in resources or support and identify specific jobs or professional opportunities that you might pursue. For example, if you are interested in the homeless population, you could pursue careers in urban planning, architecture, economics, social work, the list goes on and on. The more you can clarify where and how you want to get involved, the better able you will be to seek out opportunities to prepare and develop your own readiness.
7) Are there courses from your past major or specific things you learned that you use in your current role?
Yes- I feel like my Psychology degrees and courses have definitely helped me in all aspects of my work. I also got trained as a mediator which has come in handy working with so many different partners and collaborators. I actually think degrees in social sciences and humanities are particularly relevant for those interested in development or humanitarian work. The ability to develop context, to identify ways to provide support and add value, these are skills that are desperately needed. Experiential Learning projects are a great way to bridge degrees and courses with emerging fields or opportunities. I also suggest exploring badges and micro-credentials through Credly or other digital platforms that feature specific technologies, methods, and areas of innovation. It is a great way to enhance your resume or build on your major or required coursework. It’s really all about clarifying your interests and then building capacity through experiences, skills and competencies to move you in the right direction.
8) What advice do you have for anyone that would want to pursue a career in humanitarian work?
Prepare, Engage and Add Value, Reflect and Leverage (PEARL). This is our engagement framework that students work through while they’re doing mentored.
Projects and earning badges. You can use this same process to guide any type of humanitarian work or really any effort to develop skills, competencies and capacity through experiences. There’s no reason to wait for your dream career or internship to come to you. Go out and do good in the world, and then see where it takes you.
Amazing advice from Mara Huber! Mara can be connected with on LinkedIn to help expand your network. Of course, engaging with the Experiential Learning Network at UB is a great opportunity to meet Mara as well.
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