Rakhra named to Poets & Quants list of “Favorite Professors of Business Majors”

Raj Rakhra

Raj Rakhra, a lecturer of management at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, has been named to Poets & Quants’ 2018 list of “Favorite Professors of Business Majors.”

P&Q, the influential business school site, annually picks a select group of faculty from across the United States who go “above-and-beyond” to inspire students with their “capabilities, consideration and charisma.”

Rakhra excels in all categories. He joined the Foster School in 1999, after a decade working at Microsoft and Aldus. And he has transported his broad and relevant experience brilliantly into Foster classrooms.

He has won numerous teaching awards for his courses in marketing, management, international business, information systems, business communications and, currently, applied strategy (in the MBA core) and business consulting (for undergraduates). He has advised MBA field study projects, the Global Business Center, and the Certificate of International Studies in Business (CISB) custom track for many years.

He also has worked to develop Foster’s undergraduate honors students.

It is in this capacity that Rakhra came to the attention of Kate Jung (BA 2018), who nominated him for this latest honor.

In P&Q, Jung recalled learning a hard lesson in real-world rigor when Rakhra penalized her team for turning in a presentation just a few minutes late—a mistake she has not repeated since.

Abiel Zewolday

Kate Jung

“Raj never let me get away with anything but my best,” she said. “In his course, he challenged his students with experiential learning in consulting and constantly pushed us to create meaningful strategies for our clients. I came away from his course feeling like I had truly made an impact in the real world.

“Beyond this, Raj would often share insights about his career at Microsoft and how students can prepare for a rapidly changing workforce. Under his guidance, I honed critical skills for my future career—from professionalism to critical thinking.”

Jung and classmate Abiel Zewolday (BA 2018) were listed among Poets & Quants’ “Best & Brightest Business Majors – Class of 2018.” Both were also featured among a select group of students in the series “Foster Futures.”

Since graduating in June, Jung has joined PwC while Zewolday is starting his post-Foster career at Apple.