María Guadalupe Alba Aguilar

I am María Guadalupe Alba Aguilar, Faculty Member at UIW Campus Bajío. I hold a B.A. in Business Administration and a Masters in Administration from the Instituto Tecnológico Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM); a Master's in Education from the University of LaSalle - Bajío, and I am currently completing my doctoral thesis in Administration and Management at the Centro del Bajío University. My cross-border experience as an educator began by leading and teaching a course for the transformative UIW project StartUp Beyond Borders. The project brought together students from UIW in San Antonio and UIW Campus Bajío for a service-learning course that economically impacted and empowered over 60 residents from the village of Mineral de Pozo, Guanajuato. More specifically, the project helped local artisans to commercialize their production of traditional musical instruments made of clay. This experience reinforced my belief in the potential of learning by serving. Through this project, we designed and applied a cross-border business model that can be replicated in a multitude of contexts and locations in the state of Guanajuato and beyond. Our students not only learned entrepreneurship, logistical coordination, business administration, international marketing and import/export management, they also experienced true cross-culture collaboration and increased their intercultural competence.