Jeanine Hawk Brings Decades of Leadership Experience to Our Classrooms

Jeanine Hawk’s career journey reflects a deep commitment to leadership, public service and helping professionals thrive in their work. After beginning her career in finance within the electronics industry, Jeanine realized that corporate work that focused primarily on profit wasn’t where she wanted to make her impact.

That realization led her to explore new paths: from opening a small business in Oregon to earning her M.B.A. and stepping into a long and influential career in higher education. During the next 25 years, Jeanine held leadership roles across the public sector, including serving at the VP and vice chancellor roles at the university and community college levels. There, she oversaw finance, human resources and organizational operations while helping institutions navigate complex challenges.

Today, Jeanine brings that wealth of experience to us, where she teaches courses in human resources and employee benefits. She also works with our UC Excelerator scholarship students, guiding them through topics such as personality styles, team dynamics and workplace collaboration.

I have taken evening classes myself and I understand the commitment students make to come to class after a long day at work—maybe after also handling their family affairs—and still bringing energy to learning.

What drew you to teaching for us?

I enjoy teaching working professionals, which is the majority of our students. Many bring real-world experiences, which enriches the class conversations. There are also students who are rethinking career paths and earning a certificate in another field gives them an overview of new employment pathways. I have taken evening classes myself and I understand the commitment students make to come to class after a long day at work—maybe after also handling their family affairs—and still bringing energy to learning.

We also discuss the dynamic nature of employee benefits and how I have experienced different working generations wanting benefits unique to their life situations.

You’re teaching Employee Benefits. How does your experience flow into the classroom? 

This is such an interesting topic and has really become an important part of total compensation. I spend a bit of time on the regulatory pieces, including the history that informed many of the rules and regulations we still follow today. We dive into the many areas of employee benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, employee wellness and a variety of emerging topics such as remote work, which is an employee benefit.

Having had human resources in my portfolio, it’s especially useful to bring real-world examples into the curriculum to show where outcomes could have been improved. From working in the public sector, I also have a lot of experience in collective bargaining, so I spend time on that topic. We also discuss the dynamic nature of employee benefits and how I have experienced different working generations wanting benefits unique to their life situations.

Employee relations are crucial for maintaining a productive, engaged and loyal workforce.

Is employee relations an intrinsic factor across all sectors? 

It’s really hard for an organization to be effective if there are inadequate employee relations. Public, private or non-profit, it doesn’t matter if it’s a small bodega, plumbing, high tech or a manufacturing business. Employee relations are crucial for maintaining a productive, engaged and loyal workforce.

By fostering trust, fair treatment and open communication, effective employee relations directly impacts organizational behavior and success, reduces turnover and mitigates risk, making them a critical requirement for organizational health.

How did you get involved with our UC Excelerator scholarship opportunities ? What excited you to join the Career Foundations workshops? 

[Academic adviser] Jan Carmelo Bautista reached out to me about teaching the personality styles and work workshop. Whenever I go into a new work situation, I always ask my team to engage in a personality inventory workshop so that right from the start we have a greater understanding of each other’s communication styles and needs.

The goal of the workshop is understanding how different personality styles influence team dynamics and workplace productivity so that students can learn how to develop strategies for effective collaboration. We look at personality theory and models, inventory assessment tools, and how personality impacts team dynamics and productivity. These topics are really the most important high-level ones in understanding employee effectiveness and fit.

These skills really support better management, employee relations and can help students assess whether their personality is a good fit for future opportunities.

Students who are accepted into the UC Excelerator scholarship gain exclusive access to this workshop. What skills will they gain upon completion and why are those skills important? 

We can often do a good job of describing ourselves emotionally, but this personality inventory really helps provide a scientific aspect. These skills really support better management, employee relations and can help students assess whether their personality is a good fit for future opportunities.

From the personality inventory to interviewing for roles, how can a student find out if there’s a “fit” with an organization? 

I always start with looking at the organization’s mission and values and ask myself if there is alignment with my values and moral compass. If not, I don’t even apply.

If not sure, I recommend that applicants seek out that information when they ask questions as part of the interview process. Asking how many hours people generally work in a week, does the culture consider employees on the job 24/7 or are there guardrails in place to support work/life balance? Try to determine if the pace of that organization is right for you.

Organizational culture—do they maintain DEI initiatives, do their benefit packages suggest an emphasis on family, whichever areas are important to you. Seek out that information in advance of applying through tools like Glassdoor.

If we look to history, workforce changes are inevitable, and we must be open to transformational work cycles that occur more frequently.

What advice would you give to your students on how to best succeed in our current workforce?

It’s a hard time to enter the workforce right now given the technological advancements that are moving so quickly. We have seen this before with the advent of computing and then work changed dramatically.

If we look to history, workforce changes are inevitable, and we must be open to transformational work cycles that occur more frequently.

Finally, outside of work, where can we find you?

At home in San Francisco with my husband and English cream golden retriever. At Boichik Bagels, learning Mahjong and French, and supporting local merchants. I have made a specific goal to align my spending with my values.

Being a San Francisco native, I have really come to appreciate the diversity of the city and the wonderful way in which it is showcased through arts, food and language.