Cassandra Ozuna

The University debuted its inaugural speakers bureau, a program aimed at simplifying the process for organizations to access and recruit UT experts and leaders to serve as speakers for events and conferences, on Feb. 20.

Texas Executive Education is an initiative through which students can learn real-world expertise and gain connections through custom programs and open enrollment classes, according to its website.  

Gaylen Paulson, associate dean at the McCombs School of Business and Texas Executive Education executive director, said people not affiliated with UT have difficulties navigating University systems to find a speaker who best suits their event. The Texas Executive Education team has helped facilitate relationships with companies; however, this marks the first initiative to streamline the process of connecting organizations with the most effective subject matter experts.

“This is a centralized way for people to (connect),” Paulson said. “We’ll handle all the details, which makes it easier for both the faculty members and for the leading organizers.”

While the program is not directly aimed at students, Paulson said they will receive indirect benefits with professors returning to the classroom with new ideas to incorporate into classes.

“They learn things from the companies that they work with, or from the people that they’re seeing,” Paulson said. “They’ll bring back ideas to their own work, into their own classrooms, that they picked up when they were working with people from the outside.”