UVA Darden School Presents Awards to Standout Second Year Students

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business announced the names of 17 Second Year full-time MBA students who received awards for their pioneering spirit, dedication to service, tenacity and excellence. The awards presented include the G. Robert Strauss Marketing Award, the C. Stewart Sheppard Distinguished Service Award, the William Michael Shermet Award and the Samuel Forrest Hyde Memorial Fellowship.

Darden Professor Peter Rodriguez, senior associate dean for degree programs and chief diversity officer, opened Tuesday’s annual Second Year student awards ceremony in the School’s Flagler Courtyard.

“This is a terrific set of achievements,” said Rodriguez. “Amidst all of the excellent efforts we’ve seen throughout the year, I’m really pleased to be able to highlight those that meant a lot to us and to recognize the people who continue to dedicate their passion and energy to the Darden School and what it stands for.

• G. Robert Strauss Marketing Award: Tom Steenburgh, John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration, presented the first award of the morning, the G. Robert Strauss MarketingAward, to Adam D’Luzansky. This award recognizes the student who, in his or her First Year, showed the most innovative thinking, the ability to develop unique solutions to real-world problems, flair and charisma in presenting ideas, and provocative insight when challenging classmates’ viewpoints.
• C. Stewart Sheppard Distinguished Service Award: Sarah Wilcox Elliott, director of student affairs at Darden, presented the C. Stewart Sheppard Distinguished Service Award to Brandon Chinn, Sasha Friedman and Stephen Reiff. The award recognizes students who, in their First Year, provided exceptional service of a nonacademic nature to Darden or the University of Virginia.
• William Michael Shermet Award: Marc Lipson, Robert F. Vandell Professor of Business Administration and associate dean of the full-time MBA, announced the 15 winners of the William Michael Shermet Award, which recognizes students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the First Year program and, by their determination and constructive attitude and service, have also provided an example of responsible competitive spirit for their classmates.

The Shermet Award winners included:

• Jeffrey Allen
• Joyce Arcangeli
• Erica Breese
• Adam D’Luzansky
• Martin Erzinger
• Sasha Friedman
• Rohan Gupta
• Alex Hergenroeder
• Scott Meadows
• Kazuki Nishiyama
• Matthew Sculnick
• Bhavani Shankar Srinivasan
• Kyle Strong
• Matthew Thames
• Zachary Upcheshaw
• Samuel Forrest Hyde Memorial Fellowship: The final but most esteemed award of the morning, the Samuel Forrest Hyde Memorial Fellowship, recognizes the student who contributed the most to the welfare of the Darden School during the First Year and, through personality and devotion to the objectives of the School, showed the greatest promise of achieving a useful career.

Rodriguez announced Martin Erzinger, also the recipient of a Shermet Award, as the recipient of this high honor.

Darden Dean Bob Bruner was on hand to congratulate the students for their outstanding achievements.