Phi Beta Lambda earns awards at state leadership conference

Radford University students Amanuel Dereb and Kwabena Tuffour were winners at the Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership (PBL) Conference April 2.

The duo won first place in the web design team event at the conference held at the Wyndham Virginia Crossings Hotel and Conference Center in Glen Allen. As a result, Dereb and Tuffour have qualified to compete in the PBL National Leadership Conference in June in Atlanta.

“It was a good experience for both of us, and we are proud to represent Radford University at the national level,” said Dereb, a junior from Ethiopia majoring in information systems and business management.

To qualify for the competition, the web designs must exhibit in-depth use of HTML, CSS, Java Script and PHP, Tuffour said. “It was my proudest moment to be part of something great by raising the name of Radford University high,” said the computer science and finance major from Ghana.

In addition to the team award, Tuffour won third place in the “Financial Concepts” category in an individual event.

“The students worked hard and prepared well for the competition and maintained the winning tradition. They were well supported by Kirsten Basham, president of the Radford PBL chapter,” said professor of economics and PBL advisor Prahlad Kasturi. “Dereb and Tuffour did us proud. Their winning is a great tribute to the quality of education and the dedication of faculty at Radford University.”

Fourteen institutions of higher learning across the state participated in the competitions. The students received support for the PBL conference from the Scholar-Citizen Initiative, Kasturi said.

PBL, a postsecondary division of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), is the largest professional business association in the world, with more than 11,000 college student members and 3,000 business professionals, alumni and educators. Exclusive membership and career recognition programs are designed for each division of FBLA-PBL to provide additional personal and chapter development opportunities.

The Radford University PBL chapter is housed within the College of Business and Economics, which is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).

Apr 12, 2016
Chad Osborne
540-831-7761
caosborne@radford.edu