As 2023 comes to a close, it’s a good chance to reflect on the exciting work and accomplishments that our Lerner College students, faculty, staff and alumni were able to achieve during the year. From student success to faculty accolades, here are our top Lerner moments of 2023:
Lerner Students Visit Paris During Winter Study Abroad Trip
In a three-week stretch during January’s winter session, 21 students participated in a trade negotiation simulation and cultural exchange program between UD’s Lerner College and Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. The program combined 40 students from Sorbonne’s International Project Management program and Lerner’s Global Programs and Service course.
Lerner Programs Continue to Be Ranked Among Nation’s Best
The Lerner Online MBA program was ranked No. 33 and the Online Master’s programs in Accounting Practice and International Business placed 66th in the Online Business, non-MBA category in the 2023 U.S. News and World Report Best Online Programs ranking. The Online MBA program also moved up seven spots to No. 40 in the Poets & Quants rankings, and vaulted nine spots to No. 27 in the latest Princeton Review rankings. Lerner also moved up two spots to No. 84 in the U.S. News and World Report Best Undergraduate Business Programs rankings and was ranked No. 99 in the new category of Best Undergraduate Economics Programs.
Lerner Students Complete Impactful Internships
Lerner students pursued an array of exciting internships and professional development opportunities throughout the year. Entrepreneurship major Alexa Bachonski worked her second consecutive Super Bowl in February, serving a two-week internship with the experiential hospitality business On Location. Sport management major Andrea Plumser spent a week in Seattle in July working at the festivities surrounding Major League Baseball’s All-Star week and draft. Mathematics and economics and finance double major Juan Barbecho participated in the University of Chicago’s Expanding Diversity in Economics EDE Summer Institute.
Thirty-six student interns, including 27 from Lerner, spent the spring helping Blue Hen athletes boost their performance as part of an innovative Sports Science and Analytics program led by director Christina Rasnake.
Additionally, Lerner students who completed summer internships were profiled in the My Summer Internship Series.
Five Lerner Students Receive Alteryx SparkED Graduate Scholarships
The Lerner department of accounting and MIS partnered with computer software company, Alteryx, to offer the Alteryx SparkEd Graduate Scholarship to five students in the Lerner College master of science in business analytics and information management (BAIM) program. UD graduate students Caitlyn Tobio, Eugene Holler, Sankarasubramanian Trichy Kalyanakumar, Riddhi Patel, and Charles Chifamba were each awarded a scholarship in the amount of $4,000 to supplement their ongoing education.
Lerner Students Volunteer Time, Expertise in Local Community
Lerner students volunteered tax preparation services starting early in the year and running until April’s tax deadline, in a partnership between Lerner and local nonprofit Nehemiah Gateway Community Development Corporation. Lerner accounting students also help the Episcopal Church in Delaware with its annual parish audits.
Lerner Celebrates Class of 2023
The Lerner College Class of 2023 showcased its achievements, experiences and memories as Blue Hens, and shared their post-graduation plans, in our Lifelong Lerner Series. Lerner College celebrated more than 1,130 graduates from the Class of 2023 including undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students during its Commencement ceremonies in May. Earlier in the month Lerner celebrated its outstanding students and their academic successes during the 2023 Honors and Achievements Day ceremony.
The Lerner College Alumni Board and Lerner College honored six individuals during its annual Alumni Awards of Excellence ceremony on June 2. Jeffrey Kleintop, Michael McMullen and Tony Skiadas were given the Alumni Award of Excellence, Alex Huey earned the Rising Star Award, Meghan O’Connell was given the Women’s Leadership Initiative Catalyst Award, and Mary Ellen Payne was selected as the Brad Scott Excellence in Mentoring Award.
Oliver Yao Named New Lerner College Dean
Oliver Yao was named the new dean of Lerner College on June 27 and began his tenure on Aug. 1. Yao outlined his vision for Lerner’s future in a Q&A and also discussed his focus on the college’s fintech education.
Numerous Lerner Professors Have Research Published
Adrienne Lucas and Sabrin Beg had their research on using technology to empower teachers published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. Kathryn Bender’s research on food waste was published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics. Kyle Emich’s research on why women’s knowledge often gets ignored in the workplace was published in the journal Small Group Research. Amanda’s Convery’s research on what happens toCFOs not implicated in fraud was published in the spring edition of Contemporary Accounting Research. Dustin Sleesman’s research focusing on the gender pay gap was published in the journal Group Decision and Negotiation. Daniel Lee’s research on the impacts of grade nondisclosure on MBA students was published in the journal Management Science.
Horn Entrepreneurship Receives Honors
The Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education honored Horn Entrepreneurship’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative with its 2023 Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award. UD also moved up two spots to No. 31 in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 50 list for 2024.
Bonnie Meszaros Inducted into Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame
Long-time UD Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship Associate Director Bonnie Meszaros was inducted into the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame in October, a recognition that capped a nearly 50-year journey.
New FinTech Innovation Hub Offers New Muscle for Promoting Financial and Health Equity
UD held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 4 for the new six-story FinTech Innovation Hub on STAR Campus. The building houses teams from Lerner and the College of Engineering, and supports the work of scholars and researchers in the fields of financial services, data science and security, regulation, policy and computer engineering.
Students Arrive for UD-SWUFE Partnership
Three Chinese students are the first of a cohort taking part in a new joint educational institute, as students can study in China and Delaware through a partnership between UD and the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in Chengdu.
Wendy Smith Named Highly Cited Researcher, Receives Breakthrough Idea Award from Thinkers50
Wendy Smith, the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, was named to the Highly Cited Researchers list for the fifth consecutive year. In November, Smith and her collaborator Marianne Lewis received the Breakthrough Idea Award from Thinkers50, a global ranking group that highlights new and important ideas in management. Smith and Lewis co-authored the 2022 book, Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems.