Dr. J. Gerald Suarez is a premier educator, speaker and consultant in the fields of Organizational Design, Systems Thinking and Total Quality Management. Suarez joined Smith in 2005 as Executive Director of the multidisciplinary Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) Honors Fellows program. He was a Ralph J. Tyser Teaching Fellow and an Executive Education Senior Fellow. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Associate Dean of External Strategy, leading the offices of marketing communications, recruitment and career services.
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – With summer on the horizon, people have begun thinking about vacation plans. And many are trying to figure out how it’s all going to work this year, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend so much of life.
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – When a colleague dies, it can shake up an entire organization. In fact, it’s one of the most emotionally disruptive dynamics that an organization encounters.
How can leaders help their workplace and employees move forward in the wake of a tragedy?
Students Reflect on Mentors Suarez, Kudisch and Bailey. And Vice Versa
Three pairs of Maryland Smith students-faculty mentors were recognized in a recent event honoring this year’s graduating class of University of Maryland Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars.
The program further cited a K-12 teacher-mentor of each scholar:
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – It’s a time of the year meant for joy and celebration. But what do we really mean when we ask, “Are you ready for the holidays?”
When visiting family, frantic shopping and financial pressures extend our to-do lists during the holiday season, it seems that more people spend time bracing for impact, rather than kicking back and enjoying, says Maryland Smith’s J. Gerald Suarez.
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The five-day, 40-hour workweek has been the conventional practice in business essentially since its inception by Henry Ford in 1926. But recently, a Microsoft pilot program challenged that convention.
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Work can become a bit mundane, even for people who truly love what they do. It often happens when we’re mid-career; things become so predictable and unexciting that we start to operate on autopilot.
SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Stoked by social media, our all-too-common fear of missing out, or FOMO, is often cited as a reason why we live beyond our means, take on debt and generally feel unsatisfied at home and in our careers. It’s why we put so much pressure on ourselves to have Instagram-worthy lives, 24 hours a day.
This past winter-term, 20 students had the opportunity to learn about design and innovation in the Spanish context. While in Spain, students had a full itinerary of company visits, workshops, and cultural activities. In Barcelona, they visited the iconic La Sagrada Familia, took a guided tour of the gothic quarter, and even had the opportunity to meet with local business students. In the capital city of Madrid, students took time to reflect in Retiro Park and enjoyed traditional Spanish tapas. Led by QUEST Honors faculty Dr. Gerald Suarez and Dr. Pamela Armstrong the program focused on introducing students to design concepts from the perspective of companies in various industries. Company visits included Design Thinkers Group, TransfoLAB, and Metropoli Ecosystems.
Poets & Quants for Undergraduates is associating the adage “great teachers are change agents and difference-makers” with student-mentoring by Sandra Loughlin and J. Gerald Suarez at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
