Josh Fairbanks, associate professor at the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business, has been awarded the 2017-2018 Outstanding Student Organization Advisor of the Year designation for his work with the Rawls Graduate Association (RGA).
Recognized as the advisor whose ability to support, educate, and encourage the student
organization goes above and beyond the expected norm across the entirety of Texas
Tech University. Fairbanks role has demonstrated remarkable dedication, service and
support of RGA.
Rawls Graduate Association is the student organization dedicated to all Rawls College
graduate students. Made to promote the academic and professional development of members,
RGA strives to increase the recognition of the master's degree programs, students,
and faculty of Rawls College. In addition, RGA is the primary organization for coordinating
and managing business graduate student activities and initiatives for the Rawls College.
Nominated by RGA students, Fairbanks states he is, "honored to be a part of an organization
that is growing in membership, and is continually involved in doing great things for
the community." After teaching in every cohort in the STEM program, Josh Fairbanks
became the RGA faculty advisor thus allowing him to connect with the students easily.
Fairbanks provides insight on Three Main Purposes of the Rawls Graduate Association:
1) Continuously improve the graduate business experience through collaboration with
the administration and faculty
Being a student organization and being part of the Rawls College is nice, you can
give back to Rawls and the community. What sets RGA students apart from other graduate
students is that our members are very active participating in intramurals, Rawls Day,
and Arbor Day. We connect with the local community by giving back to places like Ronald McDonald
House and the South Plains SPCA.
2) Build relationships with fellow graduate students, faculty, alumni and business
leaders
There are so many great opportunities for students to get involved and I think building
relationships is what we do best as an organization. Our social events have been successful,
going to places such as Main Event, the golf range, and other team building retreats. Over
the past year, we have collaborated with the MBA for Working Professionals Program, trying to bring younger MBA students closer to people who actually have jobs in
the industry.
3) Provide development opportunities for members that propel both their career and
personal goals forward.
In conjunction with the Career Management Center, we plan a 3-day industry trip to Dallas, TX to visit 9 companies. In addition, we
host a roundtable with corporate executives or human resources professionals for the
RGA students to try to help get students set up LinkedIn profiles, put together their
resumes, and ultimately the goal is to get them a job. It is great to see that almost
every RGA member I have worked with has either gone to law school, medical school,
or started working full time.
Josh Fairbanks describes being advisor with RGA as "lots of work". Aside from attending all the events, he frequently meets with students in the STEM program to discuss future career goals. Fairbanks takes the time to ask students where they wish to see themselves in 5 years, simultaneously discussing the steps to help those students to get to that point. Fairbanks strongly believes, "the Rawls College faculty are tremendously dedicated to the students and are phenomenal in that regard."
About Josh Fairbanks
Born and raised in Seattle, Josh Fairbanks is an associate professor of practice in
the Department of Finance at the Rawls College. After completing his Ph.D. in 2012
at Texas Tech, Fairbanks has obtained areas of expertise in fixed income, financial
regulation and reform, and corporate restricting and real estate. Fairbanks will be
starting his fifth year of teaching at Texas Tech in the fall of 2018 and continues
to share his knowledge through research, publications, and presentations. Fairbanks
loves to spend time with his wife and four kids and being at Texas Tech University.
Media: For more information about Rawls Graduate Association, contact at RGA@ttu.edu or visit their website.