A Change Maker
Associate Dean for Career and Industry Engagement
Focuses on Enhancing the Student Experience
Jamie Belinne has been named Associate Dean for Career and Industry Engagement at the C. T. Bauer College of Business.
"Bauer has a strong history of connecting students to employers in the classroom and the office," she said. "I hope to build on our many successful programs to provide even more hands-on learning and job opportunities to Bauer students by partnering closely with our faculty and our employers."
Belinne, previously Assistant Dean for Career Services, arrived at Bauer in 2005. One of her many noteworthy accomplishments has been overseeing a tremendous increase in the college's undergraduate career placement rate, from less than 40 percent to more than 90 percent.
Belinne created the Connecting Bauer to Business course in 2006 to help incoming Bauer students better understand the resources and options available to them at the college.
"We wanted to make sure that as soon as students decide they want to major in business, they have access to information about the career options that are available, how to build a professional network, and other steps you can take to take control over your destiny," she said.
Working to increase the number and quality of Bauer's experiential learning opportunities has also been a key priority. Belinne was asked to head a task force to establish an Office of Experiential Learning at Bauer College in 2019 and was later appointed to oversee it. The office is now ranked #1 in Texas and #4 among all public universities by Forage, and Belinne is ranked as being among the top 10 percent of experiential learning educators in the world. She was asked to speak on experiential learning innovation at the American Educational Research Association Service Learning SIG conference and has also served as an invited presenter for EduSourced, for a global webinar on large-scale experiential learning programs.
Belinne's innovations around career services, career curriculum and placement programming have earned her several awards, including the National Association of Colleges and Employers Professional Change Maker Award and the MBA Career Services and Employers Alliance Lifetime Service Award.
She has also been an invited speaker on MBA career services and outcomes, reporting to industry conferences in six countries, and is on the Fulbright Specialist roster based on her work with MBA career services and experiential learning.
Belinne is the founder of Building on Difference, which provides executive training on intergenerational workplace issues, inclusive leadership, negotiations and more. She is a board member of the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce and was named an honoree by the Houston Business Journal's 2023 Women Who Mean Business Awards, an annual recognition of women in leadership roles who have demonstrated excellence in their careers and community. Belinne was honored in the non-profit category.
She completed her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University in May 2023. Her research focus is on the longitudinal impact of specific, experiential, curricular interventions on the perspectives and behaviors of MBA alumni and business leaders.
Meet the Rockwell Career Center Directors
Raji Aiyer
Director
Employer Relations
Raji Aiyer is the Director of Employer Relations at the Rockwell Career Center. Previous to joining this role, Aiyer worked managing national sales and marketing teams with Paramount Pictures, CBS Television, Showtime Networks, and WEA, a division of the Warner Music Group. She has also consulted with non-profits and start-ups with marketing and operations.
She currently serves as the adviser for the New Millenial/GenZ Community organization. She loves connecting people, especially employers to students and employers to faculty, for experiential learning.
Aiyer is a proud alumna of Bauer’s Executive MBA program. She also has an MA in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.
Megan Bauml
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Career Services
Megan Bauml is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Career Services, and also serves as the Career Counselor for Accounting Specialty Programs students (PPA, CAP, MS ACCY, Accounting Certificates). She has been in this role since 2008.
Prior to coming to the University of Houston, Bauml worked in recruiting, training and workforce development, managing a nationwide college recruiting program, and assisting with on-boarding and succession planning.
She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Business with concentrations in Marketing and Business Management, and has lived in Houston since 2005.
Oliver Blanco
Assistant Director
Employer Relations
Oliver Blanco is the Assistant Director of Employer Relations at the Rockwell Career Center. Previous to joining the Employer Relations team, Blanco was with the Graduate/Alumni Career Counseling team between 2013-2020 and with the BBA Career Counseling team between 2007-13. Before the Rockwell Career Center, he worked in human resources with the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest school district in Texas and the eighth-largest in the nation.
A proud UH alum, Blanco believes in strong community engagement. He has volunteered with the H.E.A.R.T. Program, Houston Hispanic Forum, OUT for Education, Trees for Houston, Houston Food Bank, TrashBash, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and Houston LULAC National Educational Service Centers, Inc. He is Cougar Ally trained to increase the safety and comfort level for LGBTQIA+ students at UH.
Kelly Collins
Director
Graduate & Alumni Career Services
Kelly Collins is the Director of Graduate and Alumni Career Services. Collins joined the Bauer College in March 2016.
Prior to coming to the University of Houston, Collins ran the MBA Career Management Center at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. She loves helping connect students to employers, and supporting students as they achieve their career goals.
Collins grew up in Wisconsin and is happy to now call Houston her home.
Troy Hopkins
Director
Undergraduate Career Counseling
Troy Hopkins, JD, PHR, SHRM-CP is the Director of Undergraduate Career Counseling at the Rockwell Career Center. Hopkins has been with the Bauer College since 2006 and the University of Houston since 2003.0
Hopkins has worked at Texas universities since 1997, starting at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he earned a BA in Political Science. He earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston while working full time at Bauer College.
He has earned the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and SHRM-CP certifications and is a member of the Texas State Bar.
Erin Reed
Associate Director
Graduate Career Counseling
Erin Reed is the Associate Director for Graduate Career Services at the Rockwell Career Center. She is responsible for developing the career skills of over 800 MBA students.
Her professional background spans across several industries including Retail, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, and now Higher Education.
She is a member of the National Black MBA Association and the MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA).
Reed is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor degree in Marketing. She also has a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.
Zach Wortzel
Director of Experiential Learning
Zach Wortzel is the Director of Experiential Learning at the Rockwell Career Center. He has been at the University of Houston since 2013 while previously serving as the Career Counselor for College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at University Career Services and as the Coordinator of First and Second Year Programming for Student Housing and Residential.
Wortzel holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Secondary Education from Syracuse University, along with a Master of Education in Student Personnel in Higher Education from the University of Florida.
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