As a freshman from Denver, Colorado Demetrius Gloster demonstrated academic excellence and the TRIO spirit of resilience. He was a Daniels Fund Scholarship recipient, a highly competitive academic scholarship. Demetrius earned his MBA in 2016 with a concentration in Organization Behavior and HR at UNM Anderson School of Management. He was affiliated with UNM Lobo Toastmasters, ASM Marketing Association, Men-In-Motion, the UNM Provost’s Student Advising Council, Men of Color Initiative and Community Engagement Center-UNM Service Corps. Demetrius completed an internship with Dr. Okunor at the African American Performing Arts Center & Exhibit Hall. Demetrius’ completed an intensive Spanish language study abroad program in Ecuador and awarded a UNM Regents International Study Grant. Demetrius made the Dean’s List and was accepted to the UNM Ronald E. McNair Bachelor Achievement Program.

During Demetrius’ SSS role as an undergraduate Project Assistant; he helped organize culturally relevant educational events such as Spring Storm-Watermelon Mountain Ranch, City of Albuquerque’s Make A Difference Day where our program volunteered at the New Mexico Road Runner Food Bank. Two-years later, he planned projects from beginning to the end. He ensured the smallest details such as index and account codes were correct on documentation. He promoted the activities and observed grant administration, and implementation. Off-campus, he became affiliated with the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community and was a trained facilitator at a co-sponsored W.K. Kellogg Forum.

Demetrius made an impact to the UNM student population as a Project Assistant, Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color. There he impacted a greater community helped them reach out to students to provide scholarships, mentorships, and general resources. He managed their website and listserv; and was able to help in the hiring and training of new staff.

As a graduate student, to expand his professional skill set, he completed the UNM New Advisor Training provided by UNM University Advisement Center. Then, Demetrius’ professional career journey began as an advisor at Student Support Services-TRIO, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Kirkland, Washington.

Later, true to his passion of seeking a professional career in HR, Demetrius’ first experience working in the federal government was with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) National Internship Program. Through HACU, he was selected as an HR Intern for the Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the Washington D.C. headquarters. He worked in the Human Capital Office’s Front Office with the Senior Executives, the Human Capital Officer and a Deputy who oversaw 80,000 plus employees. Then, he worked for the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the Forest Service, he earned the opportunity to rotate through every area of human resources. Eventually, the Forest Service placed him on the National Fire Staffing Team hiring firefighters nationwide. Next, he was hired as head of HR for the Department of Justice, District of Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office managing the offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska. He then worked at the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management where he provided recruitment for the entire state of Alaska which included a variety of occupations/ job series. His next role was working as an HR Specialist for Veterans Health Administration, where he hired healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, he is the Senior Human Resource Specialist for the Corporate Senior Executive Management Office, HR & Administration/Operations, Security & Preparedness which brings him full circle working with senior executives but in his current capacity his role is to now hire senior executives within every division of Veteran Affairs in the federal government!

Demetrius has reached a high position within the federal government and oversees the hiring of senior executives for every Administration in the Department of Veteran Affairs. Demetrius is supportive as a UNM SSS Alumni and has presented at several SSS events and career workshops throughout the years. He has also been instrumental in igniting several SSS Alumni gatherings.