Drew Jauron came for the BBA, stayed for the PhD…and so much more.
Ask Drew Jauron about his PhD and he’ll do backflips. Literally.
Drew Jauron grew up in central Iowa, but when time came for college, he headed east for the University of Iowa and Tippie College of Business For his undergraduate degree, he studied management and earned an Entrepreneurial Management BBA with a minor in International Studies, and certificates in Sustainability, Leadership Studies, and Writing. He was also a member of the Spirit Squad for four years and a tutor at the Frank Business Communication Center.
“I'm really a holistic person. Where I live is where I work is where I play is where I engage with people and meet peers,” says Drew.
“I think of the University of Iowa as being the kind of intellectual environment that brings out passion and draws attention.”
But that’s not where Drew’s story ends.
“While doing my undergrad, I was also looking for more academic enrichment and more…challenge,” he says. “It seemed like the best opportunity to meet that challenge was to get a PhD.”
During freshman year lectures, Drew could be found looking up grad schools. He also took advantage of readily available departmental resources, talking with professors and putting himself in a position where he’d be a competitive applicant.
“I wasn't sure what my future would look like, whether I'd be a lawyer or get my MBA, but following mentoring from Jennifer Nahrgang and Ken Brown and others, I locked in, took the GMAT exam, and got ready for applications and more research."
Fast forward to today.
Drew is immersed in his PhD studies at a university that feels both familiar and new. The University of Iowa.
“I'm figuring out how to stay in one place at the same time,” he says. “As an undergrad. I was going all over the place from building to building. Now it's like, okay, go to your office, have meetings in the same building. A home base."
"I really enjoy talking one-on-one with professors and getting the chance to creatively come up with ideas for projects. That's been really satisfying and valuable, my favorite part so far.”
When asked about his research, Drew talks about studying asynchronous video interviews with Ken Brown, Tippie Children Professor of Management. And his work with Assistant Professor Emily Campion, researching adverse impact and selection, the differences between demographic groups, and the rate at which these groups are selected into companies or colleges.
“I'm also doing a project with Dr. Amy Colbert about meaningful work, why we do or don’t want to work, and the study of people who are really engaged and passionate about their professions. That's really interesting to me because I've always tied my own identity to what I do. How do people develop those identities?”
Giving back.
While Drew no longer tutors at the Frank Center, he is planning on giving an upcoming lecture. “Storytelling is something I really care about. Training people and working on writing skills. The Frank Center was really important toward my development as a scholar. Since I'm still here, it's really rewarding to be able to give back.”
The ultimate goal for Drew is to become an assistant professor at a university that has a strong culture around it, athletically, culturally, artistically. “A peer Big 10 institution if I can get that job would be really, really empowering for me…allowing me to see another part of the country where I can continue to live and experience a collegiate lifestyle.”
That leaves just one question…
“I’m no longer on the Spirit Squad. I haven’t done a backflip in five months. This morning though, I wanted to prove I still could. So I did. That's just something that, like being a cheerleader, was important for me, something that built my sense of commitment to Iowa. I was afforded the chance to see spectacular sporting events all over the country and be a Hawkeye across the nation. Representing Iowa is something I enjoy and still want to do going forward.”
And that is something worth flipping over.