Outstanding Seniors Honored at Undergraduate Banquet

Every graduating cohort has students who are shining stars, and it is with great fanfare that Victor Mullins, Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Program, celebrated them on May 3, 2018, at an annual awards banquet. The event also honored a few faculty members who were nominated by seniors and a retiring professor who has been a positive influence on the Undergraduate Program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Faculty, staff, family and friends gathered in the executive dining room for an intimate and deliciously catered affair to honor the eight Outstanding Seniors chosen by the faculty in each academic department. This year’s senior awards were presented to Kyle Brown (accounting), Joseph Cardarelli (finance), Emily Junyi Yang (information systems), Jacob Veitch (international business); Katie Doherty (management & organization); Helen Liu (marketing); Xueting Ivy Xia (operations management & business analytics), and Mary Hope (supply chain management).

Mullins served as emcee for the evening and he was especially proud to present Cece Ukejianya with the Dean’s Leadership Award for 2018. Ukejianya was recently honored as one of only 100 students nationally as “The Best and Brightest Business Majors – Class of 2018” by Poets & Quants for undergrads. “CeCe has left an indelible legacy for future Smith students,” Mullins said.

Alia Abdelkader, Chad Gruzin, Uday Misra and Ashton Trevino received nominations for the award by faculty and staff.

In early spring, the members of Mullins’ Student Advisory Council (DSAC) asked Smith seniors to nominate their favorite and/or most inspiring teachers. More than 50 names were submitted, but professor Zeinab Karake was clearly deserving and was thus rewarded with the “Faculty Member of Distinction Award.”

Karake is a clinical professor of information systems in the Department of Operations and Information Technology. She adds this honor to those previously awarded here at the university: the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Krowe Teaching Award for Excellence.

Professors Pamela K. Armstrong and Charles E. Olson each received the “Outstanding Faculty Member Award.” Armstrong is a clinical professor with the operations management and business analytics department and associate director of the Quest Honors Program. Olson is a professor of the practice and director of the Business Honors Program.

Professor Patricia Cleveland has attended every undergraduate awards banquet since the tradition began 18 years ago and she received special recognition on this, her final banquet before she begins retirement. Cleveland served as associate dean for the Undergraduate Program from 1998 to 2012, has been the faculty champion for the Global Consulting Fellows program and continued in recent years as a lecturer with the Management & Organization Department.

— Claudia Donnelly, Smith Undergraduate Program Manager