Sameer Pathak says he still bleeds brown and gold. Of course, many University of Wyoming
alumni say that because it is a true testament to their love of their university.
However, it might hold more weight coming from someone who traveled across 11 time
zones to attend graduate school, which led to him earning the prize for being the
farthest away from home of any student at his orientation, he says proudly.
Pathak first earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1998 from Maharaja Sayajirao University in his native India. He knew that he wanted to pursue his education further, so he began searching for a school where he could obtain an MBA. Pathak began reading guides to business schools, both in the United States and in India.
“I discarded things that couldn’t happen,” he says. “No large cities, or schools not offering scholarships, or requiring more than five years’ experience.”
UW offered everything he was looking for.
Pathak was not going to come to Laramie without being prepared. His first step was to go through informal channels, reaching out and contacting other students who were attending UW from India.
He also used the formal method of getting support from the International Students and Scholars (ISS) office. He began making friends before he even arrived, and they were there waiting for him at the airport in Denver.
Upon arriving at UW, he was part of a summer English language program to help international students with their oral skills. He met even more international students through this program, and it allowed him to have a “soft landing” when it came to adjusting to his new life.
Pathak earned an MBA and a master’s degree in e-business, graduating in 2002. He is now the general manager at Coca-Cola India in Gurgaon, where he works in communication and sustainability marketing for the South Asia region. He credits his time at UW for giving him the skills that have allowed him to operate in an international business environment.
“I learned about differences in work styles and have been able to adapt, engage with people and understand people,” he says.
Early experiences that helped him gain these skills occurred while he was working as a graduate assistant in the ISS office.
“This was a time when the Internet was new to a big part of the world,” he says. “It wasn’t that easy for students from places like Mali, Cambodia or Kenya to connect with others before they arrived.” Pathak focused on helping international students contact one another at UW. He reflected on his experience of being a new international student, which allowed him to help others by easing some of their anxiety through answering their questions.
While at UW, Pathak was president of the International Student Association from 2000 to 2002. He received the Unicover Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, the Internationalization of Campus Award, the Multicultural Student Leadership Award and was nominated for the Greek Gentleman of the Year Award through his involvement in Lambda Chi Alpha. He was an orientation student leader in 2001 and was appointed as the first International Ambassador for UW in 2003. Pathak was also instrumental in getting cricket, a game popular abroad, started as an intramural sport at UW.
One of the moments he recalls most is when a major earthquake struck his homeland, and the UW community came together to help raise more than $7,000 for the earthquake victims.
“The whole world was reaching out to India during this dark hour. This was something that gave me a lot of confidence in people as a whole during times of calamity, that they would come together to help each other,” he says.
Pathak says he has maintained many of the relationships he developed in Laramie, with both students and UW faculty and staff. He is proud of his time at UW, and he even keeps a small Wyoming Cowboys flag in his office, which allows him to talk about his UW education whenever possible.
Pathak encourages all students to get involved with campus life. He says connecting with people of different backgrounds was one of the biggest highlights of his time at UW.
“Out-of-class learning is something that I hope more people understand is part of their college experience and to take advantage of it,” he says.
