The Chairs Speak: Faculty Relations

Maria Fernanda Alvarez, 2011-2012 Faculty Relations Chair

Why do I love Business Council? To answer this question you need to understand where I was a year ago, and where I am now.

Last fall I was a terrified freshman. I couldn’t have felt more lost or out of place. Enter The Undergraduate Business Council and within months I felt part of something important, I knew what I was doing was worthwhile, and the people that surrounded me gave purpose and guidance. To exemplify this I’d like to explain what I do as Chair of the Faculty Relations Committee.

This Committee serves our mission statement by providing “ways for students to improve faculty relations.” Through programs like Thank Your Professor and Faculty Research Presentations, FRC focuses on promoting familiarity between faculty, staff, and students.

Faculty Research Presentations, or FRP, is one of our most successful programs; it started in 2005 as a way for professors to share their research outside of the classroom with students and other faculty. But the way I see it, it is much more than that. It is a chance to learn about topics and information that is not available elsewhere. It’s a special forum where we are presented with original research, where we get to ask questions and spark interesting conversations. Why is this important? Why is that worthwhile? For students it’s a way of opening horizons in the business world and a chance for knowledge and interaction. For the faculty it is a chance to share their work and see how the student body reacts to it. They might even learn a few things from us, or end up with new questions they didn’t think on their own. It is important because it’s more than just a presentation; it’s an exchange of ideas.

Thank your professor is an amazing way to give back and really show appreciation for our faculty. Today, more than ever, we must realize the importance of thanking them for their time, effort and passion. In short, what we do is worthwhile because a healthy and open relationship between faculty and students has a real tangible impact on the McCombs community and morale.

Lastly I’d like to briefly talk about the team effort that is involved in putting on programs like these. Without going into details, the support that is provided at every level of this organization is outstanding, so much so that it inspires all of us to pay it forward. As Chair of FRC I will closely work with a committee that will be selected this Fall, I will do my best to mentor and involve these new teammates to ensure that they too feel that the work we do in UBC is important so that one day, they will also pay it forward.

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