Employee praised for her work with MBA for Executives program

Employee
praised for her work with MBA for Executives program

…………………………………………………………………

BY DANA BENSON
Rice News Staff

Kathy Felker
gets tired of people oohing and aahing over her husband’s
job as a flight controller at NASA’s mission control.

She’s got
a pretty good job of her own. She’s a recruiter, an
external relations professional, a counselor and more, all
rolled into one. Felker does all of these things as the
assistant director of the MBA for Executives program at
Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.

And she’s
so good at what she does that she recently was recognized
with the university’s Distinguished Employee Award.
The honor is presented to employees who go above and beyond
their job descriptions to the benefit of the university.

Felker was praised
for her ability to work with students and faculty involved
in the MBA for Executives program as well as with other
university staff to make the program run seamlessly. She
started working in the field as an undergraduate at the
University of New Mexico, and she was the only Jones School
staff member who had experience working in executive education
when the program was initiated at Rice.

“Kathy
has succeeded in winning respect and friendly cooperation
from both faculty and students,” stated Wil Uecker,
associate dean for executive education, and Kay Henry, director
of MBA for Executives, in a letter nominating Felker for
the award. “She handles all her tasks with a spirit
of excellence as well as with considerable tact, diplomacy
and concern for the feelings of co-workers and customers
alike.”

Felker is charged
with handling the registration of students and other administrative
responsibilities, such as ordering books and producing grade
reports, as students move through the two-year program.

But as Felker
noted, “My job changes depending on what time of year
it is. During the admissions season, I’m a recruiter.
During graduation, I’m almost like a public relations/external
relations staff person. But all year round, I interface
between the students and the rest of the university.”

She counts working
with the executive education students as her favorite part
of the job. Students attend the program only on weekends,
and they must have at least 10 years of work experience,
meaning most of them are middle- and upper-level managers.
Felker described the students as “incredibly demanding,
but not in a negative way. They have high standards; they
challenge rules that don’t make sense because they
work in the real world. They certainly challenge our faculty,
but the faculty love to work with them.

“My diplomacy
skills have been fine-tuned in this job,” she added.
“These are often top-level managers, and they’re
charming and eloquent, and so I have to deal with them on
their level,” she said, noting that she employs the
same diplomacy when dealing with the faculty.

The highlight
of her four years in her job was the graduation of the first
class of MBA executive students in May 2000, Felker said.
She explained that the executive students have incredibly
demanding schedules, going to school full time, working
full-time jobs and fulfilling their family responsibilities.

“I don’t
know how they do it. They don’t get any kind of special
treatment,” she said. “The students are just amazing.”

Felker said
that the environment in the MBA for Executives program is
like a family. “I’m here whenever the students
are here, and it’s a small-enough program that it really
is like a family. We don’t just know the students,
we know their spouses and kids too.”

Sometimes she
serves as a counselor of sorts when students are facing
personal problems. There have been times when students told
her that they have to quit the program, revealing that they’re
facing problems at work or home.

The many hats
Felker wears are worth it, though. “It’s something
that I really believe in, and I need that component where
I help people. To see someone start something they really
wanted to do and then struggle and then carry through to
graduation is very rewarding.”

The Distinguished
Employee Award is given by the human resources department
on behalf of the university. To nominate an employee for
the Distinguished Employee Award contact Colleen Dutton
at (713) 348-4755.