The Costello College of Business at George Mason University thrives on collaborative partnerships with innovative companies to provide students with meaningful career opportunities.
One such partnership is exemplified by Cindy Parker, BS Psychology ’92, MS Industrial/Organizational Psychology ’94, PhD ’98, the Leidos Corporate Partner Faculty Fellow, director of faculty success, and instructional professor of management, who is committed to delivering an exceptional learning experience.
(left to right) Panos Dimitriades, talent acquisition leader at Leidos; Cindy Parker, the Leidos Corporate Partner Faculty Fellow at Costello; and Karey Jamison, human resources director at Leidos. Photo provided by Cindy Parker.
Leveraging her fellowship, Parker invited Leidos team members into her MBA/GBUS 713 Managing Human Capital course to share their experiences and engage with students. On October 9, Panos Dimitriades, talent acquisition leader at Leidos, and Karey Jamison, human resources director at Leidos, joined the class to share insights from their careers and answer student questions.
Knowing that she had an engaged class, Parker made sure to connect her students with the speakers’ LinkedIn profiles so that they could think of questions to ask before the visit. After brief introductions, the questions began. During the class, they touched on everything from understanding the different types of businesses to finding the right mentor.
For MBA student Silke Vrouletis, the visit was transformative. “Hearing from Leidos HR professionals really bridged the gap between theory and practice for me,” she said. “It was fascinating to learn how the concepts we study, like organizational behavior and employee relations, are applied in a global company setting, and how strategic planning and critical thinking build the foundation of an HR representative. Understanding the structure of HR at Leidos and the responsibilities of different roles gave me a clearer picture of what a career in HR can look like.”
“Hearing from Leidos HR professionals really bridged the gap between theory and practice for me,” she said. “It was fascinating to learn how the concepts we study, like organizational behavior and employee relations, are applied in a global company setting, and how strategic planning and critical thinking build the foundation of an HR representative. Understanding the structure of HR at Leidos and the responsibilities of different roles gave me a clearer picture of what a career in HR can look like.”
— Silke Vrouletis, MBA student at the Costello College of Business
Classmate Sage Kerr echoed the sentiment. “Having additional perspectives on the real-world experience of an HR career, such as how HR professionals have to build trust with other parts of the business and become experts in a variety of subjects in order to fulfill their role, helped flesh out my picture of the HR field,” she added
Students were particularly intrigued by some of the unexpected aspects of HR work. “I found it interesting how invested HR can be at times on the core business function—our speaker mentioned traveling to Antarctica to address employee misconduct, which is a very unique experience for an HR professional,” said Barak Barekzey.
Jamison went into detail about some of her projects and discussed the importance that she places on building relationships with the leaders that she supports at Leidos. The session ran longer than planned, a testament to the students’ engagement. “It’s always good to have professionals in the field come into the classroom, share about their day-to-day work experiences, and when that correlates and relates to the kinds of things I’m talking about to them, it really helps to bring the lessons home and make them more real for the students,” said Parker.
By fostering dynamic collaborations like the one with Leidos, the Costello College of Business empowers students to bridge classroom learning with industry insight, equipping them to thrive as thoughtful, strategic leaders in the modern workforce.