Teaching Through Connection

Award-winning professor engages students with empathy, rigor, and fun

David Quintanilla, UT B.A. ’03, associate professor of instruction in the Department of Business, Government, and Society (BGS) at McCombs School of Business, has received the William David Blunk Memorial Professorship, a universitywide award given annually for exceptional commitment to undergraduate teaching and advisement.

Quintanilla earned a bachelor’s in government at UT. He has a master’s degree in philosophy and public policy from The London School of Economics and Political Science and a law degree from St. Mary’s University.

Describing himself as “a teacher that sometimes moonlights as a lawyer,” Quintanilla worked in private practice as a business attorney before joining McCombs as a lecturer in 2017.

“I was about five minutes into my first class when I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he recalls.

Quintanilla teaches five to six courses a semester, including Business Law and Ethics for undergraduates, Business Ethics in the Texas Executive MBA program, and Professional Responsibility at UT School of Law. He says his goal is to create courses that are practical, thought-provoking, and fun, ensuring students will use what they learn, step outside their bubble, and stay dialed in while in class.

“If they are having a blast, they keep coming, and if they keep coming, I can reach them,” he says. “We talk a lot about living a meaningful life in class. If they can examine a little bit about who they are and what they believe is ethical or ‘right,’ then maybe when they get out there and change the world, it will be for the better.”

His classes often have 150 or more students — posing a practical challenge to building connection. During the early weeks of the semester, Quintanilla establishes “a culture of psychological safety” to put students at ease and build rapport, he says.

“I tell students that answering incorrectly is celebrated in my classroom. My goal is to get them comfortable being uncomfortable, to let them be themselves, and to create a space where participation is not just encouraged but inevitable.”

The defining feature of Quintanilla’s teaching is structure combined with empathy, says BGS department chair Kishore Gawande.

“Students consistently report feeling included and intellectually challenged at the same time, exactly what Professor Quintanilla has planned. One student remarked, ‘This class made me remember what it was like to love learning,’” Gawande says.

In regular meetings with Gawande, Quintanilla talks about students — who is thriving, who may need encouragement, how to refine a case discussion, and how to make legal doctrine accessible without diluting rigor, Gawande notes.

“His orientation is developmental. He is not in the least bit concerned about the amount of effort from him all this must take,” he says.

The Blunk professorship, which carries a one-year stipend reward, recognizes not only a focus on student guidance but on high standards for performance. For Quintanilla, excellent scholarship starts with helping students relax and engage.

“It is just really special knowing that what my teaching assistants and I are doing in the classroom is connecting with students,” he says. 

Story by Sally Parker