Amir Maki
Major: Communication Studies (Corporate Communication)
Inspiration:
His family and their challenges. "I think it is easy to claim success when everything suits your needs and there are no battles to fight. Before moving from Sweden, my family and I had to overcome battles that make most people kneel. The events in my life and my Persian parents' diligence and constant push for independence led me to move to the U.S. As an international student, leaving my family behind was tough, and I remember being terrified of failing in my new environment. One of my professors told me, "It's okay to fall as long as you dust yourself off and keep running, falling is not failing." Those words still inspire me and are the foundation for my research."
Favorite Class:
Dr. Mark Knapp's Nonverbal Communication class. "Dr. Knapp made me pay attention to the highly detailed information in people’s facial expressions and body language. In communication, I think this is one of the most useful skills you can have; when you understand people on this level, you can figure out how to approach them so that you can be more effective. Dr. Knapp is the perfect example of a master communicator in action."
Where UT Meets the Real World:
Hands-on classes that get you in front of professionals. "I took a class called Interviewing Principles with Patty Malone. We had to do research on companies that we wanted to work for when we graduated and find at least four professionals in those companies to interview about their field. One of the people I interviewed, Jeremy Solomons, ended up offering me an internship. He's a diversity trainer who helps people understand how to do business in different cultural settings. I perform evaluations of his training programs both for his purposes and for research I am conducting in an independent research study class with my favorite professor Dr. Rachel Smith. The theme of my research, for which I won a University Co-op Undergraduate Research Fellowship, is Learning to Fail to Succeed in Cross-cultural Interactions."
Aspiration:
Graduate school and then a career involving international relations and research. "I would like to do research in an area that hasn't been explored. Diversity issues are being very hotly debated right now; companies need to adapt to and use the human resources that they have to the best of their ability. My hope is that my research contributions will help make cross-cultural relations an asset rather than a liability."
Favorite Means of Communicating:
Silence. "It's not the number of words, but the careful choosing of a few words that determines how effective you can be."
