Mario Vela is the Assistant Vice Provost of Career Engaged Learning at The University of Texas at San Antonio. In addition to his "day job", Mario served as the Chair of the Programme Committee for the 2024 Global Career Services Summit and is the founder of the HSI Career Collaborative. Mario has truly established himself as a visionary leader in our field.
In this episode, we discuss what motivated Mario to make an early career transition from social services to higher education, how his background in sociology and philosophy inform his leadership style, the three-pillared strategy he developed to transform career engagement at UTSA, who he considers to be the "Mount Rushmore" of career services, and much more!