A campuswide exchange
Faculty and staff from the Woody L. Hunt College of Business shared teaching practices and an industry engagement model at UTEP’s 2026 High Impact and Innovative Teaching (HIIT) Conference, held Nov. 4–6.
Organized by UTEP’s Institute for Scholarship, Pedagogy, Innovation and Research Excellence (InSPIRE), the three-day event brought together faculty, staff, students, and campus partners to exchange teaching practices. Sessions addressed accessibility, artificial intelligence, and career preparation, among other topics.
Building on students’ strengths
Assistant dean for applied learning and workforce development
Jesus Rolando Nuñez, Ed.D., assistant dean for applied learning and workforce development, joined InSPIRE Director Christina E. D’Arcy, Ph.D., for the Nov. 4 presentation “Activating Potential: Asset-Based Teaching and Learning.”
Participants explored how students’ experiences at work and home can inform learning. Examples included applying pricing concepts to a family business and giving feedback that identifies a specific strength before addressing areas for improvement.
“Students bring experience from work, family, and community that we can build on in our teaching,” Nuñez said. “InSPIRE gives us a place to share those approaches and learn from colleagues across UTEP.”
Connecting coursework with industry
On Nov. 5, Prithu Vatsa, Ph.D., assistant professor of finance, and Jacob Monarez, Banking Academy manager, presented “Banking on Engagement: The Corporate Academy Model for Industry-Embedded Teaching and Workforce Readiness.”
The Banking Academy combines specialized coursework with structured programming developed with 12 corporate partners. Through mentorship, networking, and engagement with industry professionals, students can build professional relationships and explore career opportunities alongside their coursework.
“In Fall 2026 alone, 10 bank CEOs, CIOs, CTOs and CFOs came to campus and taught full class sessions,” Vatsa said. “Students value this very highly. The one thing they cannot say about our classes is, ‘This is just textbook knowledge, and the real world is different.’ The real world is the one talking to them, and they are evaluated on what it tells them.”
Their workshop presented the model as an approach educators in other disciplines could adapt to connect classroom learning with workforce expectations.
“The Academy was developed to strengthen the connection between students and industry,” Monarez said. “Our partners help bring that connection into the student experience, while the Academy’s structure offers an approach that other disciplines can adapt.”
Conference attendee Valeria Delmar saw parallels with initiatives in the Translation & Interpreting program.
“The model demonstrated how meaningful industry engagement can be woven throughout a student’s academic journey, from classroom learning to mentorship, networking, and workforce preparation,” Delmar said.
Sharing practices across UTEP
InSPIRE director
The broader conference also recognized teaching excellence and featured an Innovation Marketplace at the UTEP Library, where participants could connect with campus teaching and student support resources.
“The Hunt College’s sessions offered practical examples of how students’ experiences and industry partnerships can inform teaching. HIIT gives colleagues across UTEP an opportunity to exchange those approaches and consider how they could work in their own disciplines.”
