Professor of Practice Sean Jasso teaches both inside and outside the classroom—sometimes, way outside of the classroom: For 15 years, Jasso has led, as a volunteer, the UCR School of Business’s educational domestic and international travel program.

Jasso has also served as advisor to many, many victorious UCR Business teams at student competitions locally and nationally over the same time span, with multiple winning streaks at the annual UC Davis Case Competition, International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition, and the UCR Women In Business Case Competition.

Due to these endeavors and his popular in-classroom instruction style, Jasso was recognized with the student-voted 2023-2024 Shulman Endowed Excellence in Teaching Award. The accolade was established by an alumnus and his wife to honor David Shulman, a retired economics professor, and annually rewards an exemplary business professor who embodies teaching excellence just as Shulman did.

While presenting the award during a banquet ceremony, Jaya Gazula ’24 shared a student’s comment: “Dr. Jasso embodies excellence and fosters that in his students. His involvement with the case studies and competitions highlights that education extends beyond the classroom; this approach not only enriches academic learning but prepares students for future success.”

Last year, Jasso established the Dr. Sean Drake Jasso Global Endowed Scholarship, which funds student participation in UCR Global Programs, with a preference for School of Business third- and fourth-year students.

“In all the years that I’ve done the global programs, I’ve been moving toward creating a scholarship,” says Jasso, who also received the student-voted Golden Apple Award in 2023, 2018, and 2017, for teaching excellence. “I want to help students in need see the world.”

Among the several excursions he conducts annually, Jasso led a student group to China last summer for an immersive experience to help them better understand the nation’s considerable worldwide economic and political influence.

“A global mindset enables students to broaden their perspectives on everything,” says Jasso, and firsthand, on-the-ground exposure in a very different business landscape is tough to beat when it comes to expanding students’ academic résumés.

“The objective is for our students to gain confidence and strengthen their overall competitive value in the labor market.”