For the last five years, the Najim Center for Innovation and Career Advancement has helped more than 3,000 students grow their entrepreneurial skills and cultivate their personal and professional development.
With the recent opening of San Pedro II, the newest addition to UT San Antonio’s downtown footprint, the Najim Center will now have the opportunity to reach even more students and make a greater impact.
The center’s new Innovation District is housed inside the downtown building and will serve as a hub for students to find resources and support for their entrepreneurial ideas. The district will also provide access to various hands-on learning experiences and exposure to different industries and career paths.
This downtown expansion marks a major milestone for the center, which was founded in 2020 thanks to a gift from local philanthropist Harvey Najim.
“Several years ago, when I first partnered to create the Najim Center, the vision was to create a place where students could connect what they are learning in the classroom to real-world experience,” Najim said during the opening event of San Pedro II. “It helps them build confidence, skills and a sense of purpose to ensure they can see a clear path from classroom to career. What we’ve seen since then has been nothing short of inspiring. Students are gaining hands-on experience. Students are discovering new possibilities for their future.”
Najim added, “Students are stepping in to opportunities that they may not have imagined for themselves, and today that impact grows even stronger. We’re making San Antonio more secure by transitioning the student from the classroom to the career. Downtown expansion of the Najim Center is not just about more space, it’s about more for our community of students.”
During its first year, the center piloted a handful of project-based programs while gauging student interest, with the goal of increasing the number of experiential learning and professional development opportunities for students at UT San Antonio.
The Najim Center has since grown to include a collection of more than a dozen programs and courses that span entrepreneurship, social impact and advocacy, life design, professional development, internship opportunities, and global projects and immersions.
In its five years of existence, a fundamental goal of the center has been to increase access to hands-on learning opportunities in which students are paid for their time and work. To date, UT San Antonio students have earned more than $385,000 in scholarships and stipends through the center’s programs. This has been made possible by Najim’s continued support, having contributed over $15 million to bolster student success at the university over the years.
The center’s success has also been recognized at the state, national and international levels as a model for student engagement and experiential learning.
The center’s success has been spearheaded by Najim Center leaders Erica Clark, Ed.D., director of student innovation, and Rachael Miller, director of experiential learning.
“From day one, we believed that students deserved a place to come as they are, regardless of their background, GPA or experience level, because who they’re becoming matters more than what’s on paper today,” Clark said. “That belief hasn’t changed, but what’s grown is the impact. Our students are growing through experience and development: the best of both worlds. And we’re just getting started.”
“Helping students thrive in college and beyond is at the heart of what we do. . . and this expansion will allow us to make an even bigger impact and continue to remove barriers to student success.” —Rachael Miller, director of experiential learning
Building an ecosystem
Clark and Miller, with support from the university’s Career-Engaged Learning division, have intentionally developed a portfolio of programs that connect students with real-world experiences while fostering their personal and professional growth.
“We didn’t build programs based on what we thought students needed. We built them by listening,” Clark said. “Student voices shaped our vision of the center, and their needs became our blueprint.”
That blueprint includes key programs like the Najim Strategist Program, one of the center’s most popular offerings, where students work in teams as consultants for local businesses and nonprofits; the Global Summer Institute, an immersive international leadership and innovation program; and the Advocacy Internship Program, a service-based internship tackling social challenges.
The Najim ecosystem of programs extends outside of the university as well and includes a network of over 70 external partners, from multinational companies like Experian and Dell Technologies to local partners like Community First Health Plans, Geekdom and The Pearl.
“The partnerships we’ve cultivated have been vital to the success of programs like Strategist and Global Summer Institute,” Clark said. “They help students gain hands-on experience with real companies and learn directly from business leaders.”
Developing “future-ready” students
In addition to its ample experiential learning opportunities, the Najim Center differentiates itself by integrating into each program a focus on holistic development.
Starting in the fall, these efforts will be supported by the Life Design Lab, the latest addition to the center’s offerings to students. It will act as a hub for personal and professional development, offering programs and resources to help students discover their strengths and future goals while building critical skills in teamwork, leadership, communication and advocacy.
The lab will also provide tools that faculty and staff across the university can use to integrate student development components into their courses or daily work.
“Preparing students for their careers is a big part of the college experience, but we also think it’s equally important to develop the student as a whole,” Miller said. “We want to encourage students’ personal and character development and highlight the importance of giving back to their community.”
As the Najim Center continues to grow, the Innovation District and Life Design Lab will work hand-in-hand to propel students forward, bridging personal growth with practical applications in real-world environments.
“Helping students thrive in college and beyond is at the heart of what we do. We have students who come in that are timid or nervous, and they leave our programs with so much confidence,” Miller said. “It’s incredibly rewarding to watch, and this expansion will allow us to make an even bigger impact and continue to remove barriers to student success.”
