Each spring, the University honors selected faculty members with the WVU Foundation Awards for Outstanding Teaching. Jody Crosno, the Joseph E. Antonini Chair and professor in marketing, was one of five faculty to receive the 2021 award. The committee was impressed by her seamless incorporation of experiential learning and technology into the classroom, exceptional student engagement, and innovative classroom assignments that require her students to engage with customers and clients, such as Camp Virgil Tate, to gain real-world experience.
Feminine Appeal
After graduating magna cum laude in finance and economics in 2008, Nesha Sanghavi launched UG Apparel, collegiate sports fashions for women. As a varsity cheerleader for the WVU football and basketball teams, Sanghavi noticed the lack of feminine appeal in WVU clothing. So she did something about it. How successful has she been? Enough to donate $100,000 to establish an endowed scholarship and student enrichment fund in her name. She was named to the Roll of Distinguished Alumni in 2019.
Leaving her own Mark
For many students, WVU feels like family. For Amaya Gray, it is family. Gray’s grandfather, Ken Gray, may have founded the long-standing program WVUp All Night (which hosts events and activities for students as an alternative to the bar scene), but Gray is leaving her own mark as a Mountaineer. She’s been part of the Career Readiness Program with our in-house Center for Career Development, served as a Peer Mentor for incoming freshmen in BCOR 191 and a Chambers College Ambassador, has been a member of the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) with Naomi Boyd, and founded Students of Color in Business with the help of Susan Lantz. “Students of Color in Business is geared towards business students and business minors, as well as any student who wants to be an entrepreneur or learn more about business,” Gray said.
A Big Four Dream
Lana Latif has already met her goal of securing a job with a Big Four accounting firm -- and she’s still in grad school. Latif will earn her master’s in accountancy in 2021 before heading to Pittsburgh to be an assurance associate at Ernst & Young. According to her mentor, Gary LeDonne, this is a great success story for Latif who came to WVU after living with her family in Palestine.
Chambers' Campus Cameo
Our business students were energized by College namesake and proud West Virginia native John Chambers, who visited campus with his wife, Elaine earlier this semester. He inspired our Entrepreneurship classes and student fellows by sharing his lessons learned from 20 years of leading Cisco Systems as CEO.
The Hall
The West Virginia Business Hall of Fame posthumously honored coal industry billionaire and philanthropist Chris Cline and three other state business leaders who have led widespread growth.