College of Business and Economics honors, celebrates top students
Radford University's College of Business and Economics celebrated the remarkable achievements of its students Tuesday night in two ceremonies in the COBE Building.
The festive evening began with the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society induction ceremony in COBE 320 and was followed by the annual Fall Honors Program in the COBE Multipurpose Room.
The International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma recognizes academic excellence at the world's top business schools – those accredited by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Membership in the BGS is limited to COBE juniors and seniors who rank in the top ten percent of their class or MBA students in the top 20 percent. Since its founding in 1913, the society has established more than 500 collegiate chapters around the world.
"There's no greater honor we can bestow as a college of business than to invite our students to join Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honorary society for academic excellence in business programs," said interim COBE Dean, Dennis Grady.
This year's BGS inductees were graduate students Tinashe Gwanzura and Brittany Little. Additional recognition went to Kevin Brown and Jeremiah Woolwine.
Senior inductees were Amber Ehrett, Erin Markham, Scott Werts and Carl Wickwire.
Junior inductees were Andrew Capitano, Kieran Cuffley, Danielle Gawlik, Rodney Hall and Zachary Rainey.
"You are the best of the best," stated Wil Stanton, professor of marketing and 2013 BGS Professor of the Year. "You are the type of student that any faculty would love to have in class. Certainly I do. Because when you are in my classes, I know I can make them challenging. I know I can set the bar high, and no matter what I do, you're going to jump over that bar. You're going to achieve whatever goal I set for you."
Outstanding Student Award winners: Wanda Beck, MBA; Jeremiah Woolwine, Professional MBA; Lauren Thompson, Accounting; Dennis Grady, Acting Dean of the College of Business and Economics; Robert Buonviri, Finance; Javannah Taylor, Marketing; Tanner Carbaugh, Management and Don Carter, Economics.
Following the BGS induction, the festivities moved down the hall to the Multipurpose Room to recognize student organizations and the achievement of individual students. The awards handed out were given to "individuals who have demonstrated excellence both in and out of the classroom and have been selected by their representative faculty as outstanding in their discipline," Grady noted.
The COBE outstanding student award winners included:
- Wanda Beck, Outstanding MBA Student Award
- Jeremiah Woolwine, Outstanding Professional MBA Student Award
- Lauren Thompson, Outstanding Accounting Student Award
- Don Carter, Outstanding Economics Student Award
- Robert Buonviri, Outstanding Finance Student Award
- Tanner Carbaugh, Outstanding Management Student Award
- Javannah Taylor, Outstanding Marketing Student Award
Before the individual awards were presented, Grady recognized students within organizations "that exist to acknowledge excellence," Grady said. Recognized were students who are members of Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Mu Alpha, Beta Alpha Psi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Omicron Delta Epsilon and Sigma Iota Epsilon.
"This is Radford University and you are all here tonight because of the distinction you choose to bring to this world," Grady said, concluding the ceremony. "As you go forth, I hope you treasure this moment as much as we value the impression you have made on our hearts and minds and spirits."