Assistant Dean for Career and Industry Engagement
University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business
Jamie Belinne is the Assistant Dean for Career and Industry Engagement at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, where she leads career services and experiential learning. Prior to joining UH, Jamie managed Recruiting and Staffing at The University of Texas at Austin. Earlier at UT, she built McCombs' first dedicated MBA Career Services division. She is currently a Fulbright Specialist, and she is past president of the international MBA Career Services and Employers Alliance.
She is the winner of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2012 Professional Change Maker Award for her initiatives around experiential education in large classes and the winner of the 2013 NACE Innovation Excellence Award in Diversity Programming for her e-book. As the author of "The Care and Feeding of Your Young Employee," she has worked with organizations around the world on inter-generational management issues and productivity improvement through leveraging diverse, interpersonal styles.
Director of the Eastin Center for Career Readiness
Oklahoma State University, Spears School of Business
Robin Darmon is the Director of the Eastin Center for Career Readiness at the Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University. Robin’s focus is quite simple – to guide and support Spears Business students as they prepare to pursue professional opportunities and practice continued growth.
Robin previously led the Career Development Center at the University of San Diego, the MBA Career Connections at the University of California San Diego, and oversaw employer relations at the HEC School of Management in Paris, France. Prior to those roles, she was an adjunct professor of marketing in France as well as an elementary education and middle school teacher in the US.
Robin’s diverse international experiences supporting student career success have prepared her well to connect students to opportunities in whatever path they may be interested in pursuing.
Director of Experiential Education
Stony Brook University
With over 19 years of experience, Urszula is invested in implementation of high impact practices in higher education, career readiness initiatives and the ROI of a college degree. As the Director of Experiential Education, she is committed to ensuring that all students have access to experiential opportunities inside and outside the classroom including internships, industry project based learning, student employment and community outreach programs contributing to student success goals and employability outcomes. Her expertise is in the area of experiential education initiatives, assessment and building strong academic and industry partnerships.
Associate Co-op Faculty/PT Lecturer
Northeastern University
Smajl Cengic has over 25 years of experience as a career advisor, counseling urban youngadults, refugees, immigrants, undergraduate and graduate students. During this time, Smajl hashelped thousands of people searching for internships and employment, and he has loved everyminute of it.
For the past seven years, Smajl has been working at Northeastern University, a powerhouse ofcooperative education and experiential learning. At Northeastern’s Khoury College ofComputer Sciences, he assists graduate students secure co-op positions and post-graduateemployment. He also teaches a semester long career preparation course, collaborates withemployers looking for co-op students and interns, and helps employers establish an efficientpipeline for early talent.
At Northeastern, Smajl works with a diverse group of students. Most of them are internationalstudents, which adds an extra dimension to the complexity of work integrated learning. Inaddition to undertaking a co-op and career search, they are faced with the cultural challengesof being immersed in a new country, educational system, and workplace. Smajl takes all theseadjustments into consideration when providing career advice in order to help his studentsmake the smoothest transition possible to their co-op experience.
Smajl successfully uses Forage during his counseling sessions when he introduces students tothe platform. It has led many students to learn more about companies and has increased theirchances of securing co-ops and internships. Smajl has assisted a few other colleges atNortheastern incorporate Forage into their career preparation classes as well.
Senior Lecturer
Queen Mary University of London
The MySkills initiative at QMUL, created by Dr Usman Naeem and Claire Revell, epitomises innovative curriculum design. Tasks centred around professional development are embedded within the student journey at different points throughout each academic year to support students in building their personal brand and empowering them to take ownership of their career development.
At every stage of their journey, students will complete tasks that allow them to build a record of skills and achievements that they can refer to when making job applications. The MySkills initiative is currently embedded into a number of modules in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science as a summative assignment, and therefore demonstrates to students that a degree alone is not enough to get a great job. Throughout their time at QMUL, students on the MySkills programme will gain exposure to top employers such as Accenture, bp and General Electric and will be prepared with the skills and professional networking skills that they can share with employers.
Digital Commons Director
Vanderbilt University
Dr. Cazembe Kennedy obtained his PhD in Human-Centered Computing in 2020 from Clemson University. His background is in computer science, with research specializing in science education, education policy, active and evidence-based learning, and misconceptions in learning. He has a passion for enacting change in the higher education system, particularly from research-based perspective that can have quick turnaround times and lead to practical changes. His current work focuses on immersing faculty, staff, and students into digital tools to assist with their education and research interests. This is done through multiple internal and external partnerships, including the one with Forage. This work looks to provide accessible means to digital tools so students, staff, and faculty can have the space to explore creative and innovative ways to use them for interdisciplinary research and more engagement in classrooms. He is also involved in a multi-institutional National Science Foundation grant to improve retention and graduation rates of Black computer science majors.
Dr. Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Maryland. His academic journey took him to Morehouse College to earn his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He attributes much of his success to the diverse wealth of life and professional experiences he has had the fortune of engaging in, from playing piano for a choir on Harris Theater stage in Chicago to traveling to over 30 countries before age 30 to being able to attend and work at/with: Historically Black Colleges/Universities; both private and public R1 institutions; smaller private and public institutions with various levels of research efforts; national laboratories; and major government defense contractors.
We’re on a mission to get motivated students into great jobs. So are these educators. Meet the top 50 four-year higher-ed institutions in the U.S. that are innovating in the classroom and setting up their students for career success.
Assistant Dean for Career and Industry Engagement
University of Houston, C.T Bauer College of Business
Jamie Belinne is the Assistant Dean for Career and Industry Engagement at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, where she leads career services and experiential learning. Prior to joining UH, Jamie managed Recruiting and Staffing at The University of Texas at Austin. Earlier at UT, she built McCombs' first dedicated MBA Career Services division.
Director of the Eastin Center for Career Readiness
Oklahoma State University, Spears School of Business
Robin Darmon is the Director of the Eastin Center for Career Readiness at the Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University. Robin’s focus is quite simple – to guide and support Spears Business students as they prepare to pursue professional opportunities and practice continued growth.
Director of Experiential Education
Stony Brook University
With over 19 years of experience, Urszula is invested in implementation of high impact practices in higher education, career readiness initiatives and the ROI of a college degree. As the Director of Experiential Education, she is committed to ensuring that all students have access to experiential opportunities inside and outside the classroom including internships, industry project based learning, student employment and community outreach programs contributing to student success goals and employability outcomes.
Associate Co-op Faculty/PT Lecturer
Northeastern University
Smajl Cengic has over 25 years of experience as a career advisor, counseling urban youngadults, refugees, immigrants, undergraduate and graduate students. During this time, Smajl has helped thousands of people searching for internships and employment, and he has loved every minute of it. At Northeastern’s Khoury College of
Computer Sciences, he assists graduate students secure co-op positions and post-graduate employment.
Digitial Commons Director
Vanderbilt University
Dr. Cazembe Kennedy obtained his PhD in Human-Centered Computing in 2020 from Clemson University. His background is in computer science, with research specializing in science education, education policy, active and evidence-based learning, and misconceptions in learning. His current work focuses on immersing faculty, staff, and students into digital tools to assist with their education and research interests. This is done through multiple internal and external partnerships, including the one with Forage.