Member details

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Staff
Contact First Name
Amy
Contact Last Name
Kavalewitz Dern
Picture
Title
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Office
OEDK 105
Bio Summary
Amy Kavalewitz has served as the Executive Director and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the OEDK. She has been with the OEDK since the summer after it opened its doors in spring 2009. Amy stewards the support for student engineering design projects and programs by building relationships with industrial partners and is part of the leadership team at the OEDK. Amy leads the development of crafting OEDK policies and procedures and substantially contributes to “the creative buzz that characterizes the OEDK.”
Bio
M.Ed., Adult Education, Penn State University (2007)
Post Baccalaureate, Distance Education, Penn State University (2006)
B.S., Organizational Leadership, Penn State University (2004)
A.S., Technical Communication and Web Production, Houston Community College (2000)

Amy Kavalewitz serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at OEDK. Formerly the executive director, she as been with the OEDK since the summer after it opened its doors in spring 2009. Amy stewards the support for student engineering design projects and programs by building relationships with industrial partners and is part of the leadership team at the OEDK. Amy leads the development of crafting OEDK policies and procedures and substantially contributes to “the creative buzz that characterizes the OEDK.” Amy has a deep competence for process development, social media and the identification of new tools to expedite our organizational operations.

Amy was hired at Rice in 2006 as coordinator of the Computer Information Technology Institute, which is now the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology. In 2009, she became administrator of the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK); when the RCEL launched in 2010, she became administrator of that program as well. In 2012, Amy became the associate director of the OEDK and then in 2016 was named the executive director. Then after some restructuring, Amy was named in her current role as director of strategic initiatives in 2022.

Amy received the Rice Distinguished Employee Award in 2008 and was the winner of the 2010 George R. Brown School of Engineering Hardy Bourland Award, which honors the school’s most outstanding staffers. In 2012, she was honored with a Centennial Star Award, which was given to 100 employees during the centennial year who represent the culture at Rice.

Contact us

Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen
Rice University

6100 Main Street MS 390 | Houston, Texas | 77005

Phone: 713.348.OEDK

Email: oedk@rice.edu

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