By Walter Villa, Special to STU
Serving his students.
That is what it is all about for Dr. Jose Rocha, who is St. Thomas University Gus Machado College of Business’ MBA program director.
Late last month, STU – thanks in large part to Dr. Rocha – hosted a summit for the U.S.-based chambers of commerce from Argentina, Mexico and Spain.
More than 200 people attended the summit, including business leaders and STU students. In fact, it was a “standing room only” crowd inside the Gus Machado auditorium.
“I participate in business-network events,” Rocha said, “so that I can open doors for my students.”
Guido Cacciabue, a former STU soccer standout who is working on his MBA in Finance, is one of those students who benefitted from last month’s summit.
“It was a great experience to meet all these business people from different countries, especially (my native land of) Argentina,” Cacciabue said.
“It was my first time being at this kind of an event, and it just shows how St. Thomas University is growing and connecting us students with successful people in their fields.
St. Thomas is giving us a lot of opportunities.”
Dr. Rocha, a native of Mexico who has been an STU professor for 13 years, is able to help make these connections because of his vast experience.
Prior to STU, Rocha was the U.S./Latin American director for Tec de Monterrey, the largest private educational system in Latin America.
Rocha’s research has been focused on knowledge management and knowledge-sharing in dynamic environments such as high-tech entrepreneurship, business analytics, corporate social responsibility, and disaster management.
In addition, Rocha has the full support of Dr. David Edwards, STU’s Dean of the Gus Machado College of Business.
Dr. Edwards said last month’s summit was yet another step forward for STU because it provided key information and voluminous networking opportunities for STU students as well as business leaders looking to hire talented employees either now or in the near future.
“It’s important that we present these opportunities for our students and also for our local business community,” Dr. Edwards said.
“We had a panel discussion that focused on labor trends up to the year 2030, and our business leaders found it useful that we could provide that insight.
It’s crucial that St. Thomas University continues to function as thought leaders.”
