FOR RELEASE:   August 16, 1994            CONTACT:   Lee Scurry
                                                 (202) 208-3983


                    MMS SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH
          HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (#40057)

     The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) today announced an agreement with Saint Augustine's
College in Raleigh, N.C., Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach,
Fla., and Howard University in Washington, D.C.  The Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) calls for MMS to assist the schools in
increasing the number of qualified candidates for accounting,
auditing and computer science positions with the federal agency.

     "MMS needs highly qualified employees for a variety of
scientific and technical disciplines," said MMS Acting Director
Cynthia Quarterman, "and we look to these Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCU) as a valued recruitment source.

     "Currently, MMS-HBCU agreements exist with 13 schools across
the country, benefiting thousands of students and faculty, as well
as MMS," she said.

     According to the MOU, the participating parties of this
agreement will:
     -- initiate career development and placement activities to
facilitate the employment and training of professional accounting,
auditing, and computer science students; and
     -- advance the objectives of the MOU by holding workshops,
seminars and field visitations for participating students.

     As part of the MOU, MMS will create at least two cooperative
education positions for participating HBCU students.

     MMS is the Interior Department agency which manages and
regulates the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources
on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and which collects and
disburses revenues from OCS leases and from onshore leases on
Federal and Indian lands.

                              -MMS-

Subject: PR-8/16/94 HBCU MOU/MMS Signs Agreement with Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (#40057)