COBE honors and celebrates its extraordinary students

The College of Business and Economics (COBE) celebrated the remarkable accomplishments of its students with a ceremony April 19 in Kyle Hall.

“Tonight we celebrate excellence, and we honor achievement,” COBE Dean George Low said. “We are recognizing those among us who have given extra, taught us in new ways and have shown us how to take life to another level.”

Before handing out individual awards, Low recognized students who are members of campus organizations that honor academic achievement. Those included Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Beta Alpha Psi, Omicron Delta Epsilon, Sigma Iota Epsilon and Alpha Mu Alpha.

Individual honors were bestowed on students “who have demonstrated excellence both in and out of the classroom and have been selected by their respective faculty as outstanding in the discipline,” Low said.

The COBE Outstanding Student award is given each year to the student who exhibits outstanding leadership, GPA and citizenship. Marketing major Benjamin Buzzard was this year’s honoree.

“Radford is noted for students who work hard to achieve goals in life, and this year’s recipient is no different,” Low said.

Additional COBE Outstanding Student Awards were given to:

·       Eric Tucker, Full-Time MBA

·       Justin Willard, Full-Time MBA

·       Mark Hassell, Professional MBA

·       Rick Van Harn, Accounting

·       Tyler Francis, Economics

·       Nichols Altman, Finance

·       Zachary King, Management

·       Georgia Logan, Marketing

Elaine Bland received the COBE Student Service Award, which honors an individual who has “provided a positive image for prospective students and their families.

Alyssa Pull received the COBE Deans Award. The annual award “honors a student who exhibits leadership and contributes to the needs of student organizations as well as maintains a high GPA,” Low said.

Robby King was honored with the COBE Citizen Scholar Award, “which is a way of knowing those among us who have taken their academic knowledge into the world to make a difference,” the dean said.

The Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key is awarded each year to graduating students with the highest cumulative academic average toward a degree in business or economics. “This year we have a tie,” Low said as he announced winners Zachary King and Rick Van Harn, both of whom have 4.0 GPAs.

The Beta Gamma Sigma Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year was awarded to Accounting Associate Professor Mike Chatham.

Low also gave special recognition to COBE’s Student Managed Investment Portfolio Organization (SMIPO), which earned the top fund ranking for the Value Fund Category – Undergraduate Division at the 2016 Global Asset Management Education Forum (GAME) in New York City on April 2.