The Engler College of Business held its annual Symposium and Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 26. It is the highlight of the year in terms of recognizing outstanding students, many of whom had only a graduation ceremony ahead, separating them from their degrees. Selected community members as well as retirees are also honored.
In a matter of only an hour, more awards were handed out than they do at the Emmys and Grammys in three hours.
Beta Gamma Sigma is our premier honor society; an invitation is highly sought-after. This year, 33 students were inducted into BGS, one of the highest honors our students can seek to attain. It is one of the benefits of being an AACSB-accredited school.
Beyond this, three other honor societies—Alpha Mu Alpha (Marketing), Omicron Delta Epsilon (Economics), and Upsilon Pi Epsilon (CIS)—inducted a total of 36 students. These honor achievements within a specific discipline. Eleven student organizations also announced their individual award honorees.
Following a multimedia presentation by Media Minds, our stellar team of student video content producers, the three Engler Ambassadors were announced. Cristian Bustillos, Landry Overby, and Gaston Yobol represented the COB in numerous functions throughout the year.
The highest student honors went to those individuals named as outstanding in their respective major fields. At the undergraduate level, Karla Flores (Accounting), Bailee Gerlich (CIS), Patrick McFall (Economics), Hannah Goss (Finance), Nitzana Solberg (General Business), Tiffany Alvarez (Management), and Rashidat Oladipupo (Marketing) were recognized, with Rebecca Warner receiving the overall Outstanding Undergraduate award.
At the graduate level, winners were announced for the MSCISBA (Richard Sullivan), MBA (Charissa Harden), MSFE (Bryan Modisette), and MPA (Samuel Plumley), with Latricia Neigos winning the Outstanding Graduate award.
The COB is also proud to maintain relations outside the campus confines as well, and as such significant individuals and organizations are honored each year. The Ambassador Award was given to the Ware Family for their significant contributions to the College, Pantex received the Employer of the Year Award, Amy Henderson received the Horizon Alumnus Award, and J. Pat Richmond took home the Legacy Award.
Finally, the COB inducted two retired faculty into the Hall of Fame. This year, Dr. Ron Hiner and Dr. Dale Pulliam, both in Accounting, received this prestigious recognition. These two were particularly influential in anchoring a discipline in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of our older graduates remember them well.
Dr. Abdullat then provided his closing remarks, and the audience enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres, another year in the books.