Top Students and Faculty Honored in Graduation Award Receptions

The best among the School’s graduate and undergraduate classes of 2017, along with their favorite professors, have been honored as part of annual awards programs held at the School prior to commencement. 
Top Students and Faculty Honored in Graduation Award Receptions

Undergraduate Awards 

The Dean’s Award in Memory of Beatrice Gitlow, which recognizes the graduating senior with the highest academic honors, went to Jacob Beck. The Beta Gamma Sigma Award recognizes the other top graduating senior and was awarded to Riva Trivedi.

Each academic department also presents a departmental highest honor award to their top student, with the awards presented by a representative faculty member. The award winners were:

  • Jacob Sandweiss, Accounting
  • Kierin Mukerjee, Business Law and Legal Studies
  • Devin Fitzgerald, Business Technology
  • David Christensen, Entrepreneurship
  • Terrance Lam, Finance
  • Athina Pitsolos, International Finance and Marketing
  • Dezare Sellers, Management
  • Joseph Henn, Management Science
  • David Tajfel, Real Estate
  • Olivia Watson, Marketing
  • Riva Trivedi, Health Sector Management and Policy
  • Jacob Beck, Economics

Several awards are also presented to graduating seniors to honor their service to the School. The winners of these include: Connor Masterson, recipient of the W.T. McElrath Award for Excellence in Service; Samantha Chatkin, winner of the Johnson A. Edosomwan Leadership Award; and Bai Ou, who won the Senior Class Research Award. 

The School’s Women in Business organization was once again awarded the Student Organization of the Year award. Undergraduate freshman, sophomore, and junior classes also received recognition. The Best in Class winners were:

  • Fizza Noor, Freshman Best in Class
  • Arthur Faria, Sophomore Best in Class
  • Richard Holmes, Junior Best in Class

Faculty were also recognized at the awards ceremony. Students chose three professors to receive the Excellence in Teaching award: Anita Cava, professor of business law; Pietro Bianchi, assistant professor of accounting; and Mark Shapiro, a business law lecturer and director of undergraduate student engagement and academic enhancement. Additional awards presented included the Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key, awarded to Olivia Watson, and the For the Love of the U award, given to Maryann Barber, a business technology lecturer.

Graduate Awards 

Awards were presented to outstanding faculty and graduating students in the Full-Time MBA, Professional MBA, Executive MBA in Health Sector Management and Policy, Master’s programs, and the Global Executive MBA en Español.

Anuj Mehrotra, dean of the School, began the evening by introducing students nominated by their cohort to award the Excellence in Teaching finalists, stating that “Excellence in Teaching is at the very core of an academic institution.” Winners included: 

  • Tallys Yunes, recipient of the Full-Time MBA program’s Excellence in Teaching award
  • Eric Kriss, recipient of the Full-Time MBA program’s Excellence in Teaching award for an elective class
  • Sundaresh Ramnath, recipient of the Professional MBA program’s Excellence in Teaching award
  • Joseph Ganitsky, recipient of the Global Executive MBA en Español program’s Excellence in Teaching award
  • Tie Su, the MS in Finance’s Excellence in Teaching award winner
  • Daniel McGibney, the MS in Business Analytics’ Excellence in Teaching award winner
  • Manuel Santos, the MA in Economics’ Excellence in Teaching award winner
  • Linda Neider, the MS in Management Studies’ Excellence in Teaching award winner

Graduates from each class who displayed strong initiative, commitment and leadership were honored by their classmates with Leadership Awards. Winners were: Andrea Jo Cabrera from the MA in Economics class; Anthony Figueora from the Master in International Business Studies class; Viena Perez from the MS in Management Studies class; Fritz Desir form the MS in Business Analytics class; Charles Phillips from the MS in Finance class; Antonio Torres from the Global Executive MBA en Español class; Jared Finegold from the Professional MBA class; and Martha Polanco and Chelsea Kajs, representing cohorts A and B of the Full-Time MBA class.