Jair Cortázar

It’s not very often a student gets a chance to stand in front of dozens of professors from all over the world and teach. But Jair Cortázar ’07, an international business graduate from Colombia, had exactly that role-reversing experience when presenting research he had conducted about his native country. 

“For me, it was a little awkward,” said Cortázar. “They were asking me ‘What do you teach?’ because they’re not used to seeing students at these conferences.”

At the Applied Business and Entrepreneurship Association International Conference, Cortázar presented two papers he had written. Both focused on Adams Revolutionary Model (ARM), a tool designed and created by Lynn Adams, an associate professor of finance and economics at UVSC, and how it applies to the social unrest in Colombia.

“It was well received and voted best paper of the session,” Cortázar said. The two papers have been combined into one and will be published in the Indian Journal of Economics later this year.

Working through UVSC’s Office of Undergraduate Research and International Programs and the Woodbury School of Business, Cortázar also got a chance to represent UVSC at the 2006 National Conference on Undergraduate Research at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

“Through that, I got addicted to research,” Cortázar said. Reading Adams’s dissertation, Cortázar wanted to use ARM to research the situation in Colombia. By doing so, they discovered that ARM helped them to gain a better understanding of the instability in Colombia. This led to Cortázar’s presentation at Fort Hays State University in Kansas and then to the international conference.

“This shows the kind of students that UVSC is getting out there,” Cortázar said. “That’s the most important thing. It was great to represent UVSC and show the quality of students and instructors we have here.”

Cortázar is currently working to translate his paper into three more languages – German, French and Spanish – as well as continuing his research about Colombia using ARM. He has applied to Westminster College in Salt Lake City to pursue his MBA in international business. Like his mother – who was a politician in Colombia – Cortázar wants to use government to help people be more aware of the situation in Colombia and to change any negative perceptions they may have about the country.

“At UVSC, students have the chance to put the things they learn into practice,” Cortázar said. “They get to show what they’re doing and show their research. We don’t just have people regurgitating what is in a textbook, but applying what they learn and seeing how it works. That’s why students have a vision when they leave UVSC.”

A copy of Cortázar’s paper can be found here.