Maria Alejandra Quijada is an Assistant Professor at MSU Denver in Denver Colorado.
Dr. Quijada, started her career as a software engineer and a financial analyst and through these, discovered how crucial the human element is to the functioning of an organization. It did not matter that her spreadsheets sat and did tricks, it was the people that made things happen or not. It did not matter that it was the high-tech world of cell phone providers, the multinational environment of Procter and Gamble, a small start-up trying to create a new segment of the lottery market, it was always about the people.
These experiences led her to a Ph.D. in Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship. Her dissertation focused on the operations of a Fortune 500 technology company. She spent a year collecting data to truly understand the complex dynamic of an evolving business with the challenges of navigating new acquisitions, changes in technology and the growth of their global operations. Having studied and experienced a wide range of managerial capabilities, she has focused on making sure that “my students become good bosses,” and it is that passion that drives her work.
With 15 years of teaching experience, Dr. Quijada teaches classes in management, leadership, diversity, and women in business at the undergraduate, graduate and executive level. Her classes focus on providing people proven tools to manage the diverse human element in organizations and also to understand oneself and find a way to shine. Her areas of scholarly expertise include organizational change, culture, issues for women in business and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She received the Lecturer of the Year award recognizing her innovative teaching and strong drive to make the learning experience a practical one driven by proven evidence.
Dr. Quijada has organized for the past 6 years the Women and Leadership Conference at Regis University. The conference focuses on topics of interest in the field of women in business, leveraging a wide network of speakers and with the goal of providing key insights that women can take into their work to navigate the challenges that women experience in the workplace.
Dr. Quijada also holds a M.S in Engineering Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree in Systems Engineering.