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Q&A with Maite Zabala-Alday from UC Riverside

April 13, 2022Maite Zabala-Alday

  1. What is your current role at your institution/company? 
    Sr. Director of Corporate Partnerships at University of California, Riverside.  

  2. How long have you been a NACRO member? 
    I first joined NACRO in 2012 when I was Director of Corporate Relations at Otis College of Art and Design. Even though I wasn’t at a research institution, the “Five Elements” and “21st Century Metrics” white papers were valuable and I adapted the concepts to my institution. I continued to use NACRO resources when I was hired to build a corporate relations shop at California State University, Dominguez Hills and now in my current role at UC Riverside where I’ve been since fall 2019.
     

  3. What do you enjoy most about your NACRO membership? I really value the NACRO publications as they’ve helped me to advocate for and implement best practices at different campuses. That’s why it made sense for me to finally join the Benchmarking Committee. I’m currently working with the team on the second Industry Perspectives research report and helped draft the DEI Quick Poll survey. 

     

  4. So far, what has been your greatest Corporate Relations success?  What has been your greatest challenge? 
    My greatest corporate relations success was securing a major gift to establish the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education and Mobile Fab Labs program at CSUDH. I’m also proud of my work at UCR to build a campus-wide collaborative approach to corporate engagement.  My greatest challenge is also managing the collaborations across campus.

     

  5. What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? 
    I love camping and recently went on an overlanding/off-roading trip through Death Valley National Park with my husband, son, and friends.