If you’ve spent any time as a #UHBauer student, you know that our faculty members are pretty incredible — they’re respected researchers and scholars in their respective disciplines, frequently cited by the media and business community for their thought leadership and expertise. And many of them are former executives or entrepreneurs themselves, bringing firsthand business experience straight to you in the classroom.
They’re pretty much the best teachers you’ll find anywhere.
And, #UHBauer faculty are also changing lives and breaking barriers outside the classroom. Here are a few things you might not know about some of the people at the front of the lecture hall.
Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher
Associate Professor (and volunteer firefighter)
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher personifies this quote from Greek philosopher Plutarch as a volunteer firefighter with the Cypress Creek Volunteer Fire Department, using her on-the-job experience to better understand physiological and psychological stress among first responders through academic research.
Fletcher was serving as UH’s associate vice chancellor/vice president for research when she decided to give back by volunteering, after seeing the 2011 grass fires in the Magnolia-Montgomery area, where she boards her horse. After passing a medical evaluation, she began training in the cadet academy twice a week for several months, learning fire behavior and fire attack strategy among other skills, including working hoses, ladders, ventilation equipment and rescue/vehicle extrication tools.
Randy Webb
Executive Professor (and retired consumer packaged goods executive)
If you’re a student in Bauer’s Program for Excellence in Selling within the Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute, you know Randy Webb. He’s worked for almost 20 years on campus, helping to teach and mentor students in the program, where he serves as executive director.
But before joining the #UHBauer faculty, Webb was an executive for Mars, Inc., where he served as president of Uncle Ben’s, the company’s food division. And before that, he was VP of sales for M&M/Mars. Webb’s time in industry allowed him to develop a leadership style that he brings to the classroom — “The way you empower people is you give away your power to them. People will actually surprise you by doing better than you thought they could,” he said.
Jamie Belinne
Assistant Dean (and Ironman)
Jamie Belinne doesn’t slow down — in addition to her role as assistant dean for career services at #UHBauer, where she leads the Rockwell Career Center, she teaches GENB courses, serves on the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Enactus Faculty Advisory Board, and recently published “The Care and Feeding of Your Young Employee,” a book about intergenerational management issues.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Belinne is a mother of two and a marathon runner, an Ironman and an RRCA Certified Run Coach. She was a member of Team USA 2009 for the ITU Long Distance Triathalon World Championships and Team USA 2011 for ITU Duathlon World Championships.
Emese Felvegi
Clinical Assistant Professor (and tech aficionada)
Budapest native Emese Felvegi didn’t need to speak a word of English in her childhood home. Her family spoke Hungarian.
But that didn’t stop her from learning the language — repeat viewings of Star Wars and a passion for The Beatles, along with her more formal education, expanded her vocabulary and her worldview.
Now, as a clinical assistant professor in Bauer College’s Department of Decision & Information Sciences, Felvegi applies the same thirst for knowledge (and affinity for pop culture from her childhood) as she teaches her students.
Her undergraduate MIS 3300 class introduces students to computers and management information systems, and in the last several years, she has taken student groups to The Printing Museum in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood to give them a historical perspective on IS. She also frequently brings student leaders and young alumni into the classroom for panel discussions to share their insights with the next generation, and she blogs her thoughts on things like book suggestions, what to binge watch and favorite Excel function.
By Jessica Navarro