Tag: graduation

Students with the top grades lead their class during Commencement ceremonies and Shai Hastor, an Israeli entrepreneur and former member of the Israeli Navy Special Forces has that honor for the MBA Class of 2016.

Shai was also selected for the Poets & Quants Best & Brightest nominations. He shares his Olin experience on the P&Q website and says he is most proud of Quadzilla, his startup, that is an online marketplace for WashU students to buy and sell used goods, find roommates, sublets, and apartments.

Shai is headed to Google headquarters after graduation where he will be product manager.

Link to Shai’s profile here.

First of all don’t call it a “hat”! In technical academic regalia lingo, graduates wear “caps” as part of their ceremonial costume, but they do come in different shapes and sizes according to the degree you are receiving.

There are two types of academic caps worn at WashU Commencement ceremonies:

MORTARBOARD: undergraduate degrees; called a mortarboard because of its similarity in appearance to the board used by bricklayers to hold mortar. Wear squarely on top of head unless you have an important message you want to share with those seated behind you.

VELVET TAM: Masters and doctoral degrees. Tams come in 4, 6, and 8-corner styles.

WHEN TO WEAR
Those wearing academic costumes always wear their caps in academic processions and during the ceremony of conferring degrees.

Men may remove caps during prayer, the playing of the national anthem and the alma mater, and at other specified times, e.g., during the baccalaureate sermon or the commencement address.

THE TASSLE
There is no hard and fast rule about tassels, but WashU, like many universities, has follows the custom of wearing the tassels on the right front side before degrees are conferred and to shift them to the left at the moment when degrees are awarded.

Washington University’s 155th Commencement Ceremony will take place Friday, May 20, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. in Brookings Quadrangle. Celebrations of the Class of 2016 begin early with this all-university ceremony where U.S. Congressman John R. Lewis, considered one of the most courageous and influential leaders in the civil rights movement, will give the 2016 Commencement address.

Congressman John Lewis

Lewis will be receiving an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

Olin hosts separate diploma and awards ceremonies for undergraduate and graduate students at 11:30 and 3:00 p.m. respectively in the Athletic Complex.

Undergraduate Diploma and Awards Ceremony
11:30 a.m. Field House, Athletics Complex

Scott Helm

Scott Helm, BSBA’87, is a private investor who lives in Baltimore, Maryland and will deliver the keynote speech at the undergraduate ceremony. He was a founding Partner of Energy Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in North American energy infrastructure.

Prior to Energy Capital Partners, Helm was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Orion Power Holdings, Inc., a publicly listed company which owned and operated power plants.

After graduating from Washington University, he joined Goldman, Sachs & Co., first in the Fixed Income Division and later in the Investment Banking Division.

Graduate Diploma and Awards Ceremony
3 p.m. Field House, Athletics Complex

Alaina Macia

Alaina Maciá, President and CEO, MTM, will be the keynote speaker. Maciá has grown MTM to a national leader in medical transportation management since assuming leadership of the St. Louis-based company in 2005. In the past decade, the medical transportation company has grown from 200 employees to over 2,000, and has increased revenue from $50 million to over $450 million

Macia has helped MTM achieve its mission of providing accessible, low-cost transportation for low income, intellectually and developmentally delayed, and elderly populations in order to ensure they can access preventative health care services, employment opportunities, and social activities. Today, she is helping MTM build new healthcare solutions, including ambulance, home healthcare management services and transit call center services.

Macia earned her MBA at Olin in 2002 with an emphasis in corporate strategy and finance. Her undergraduate degree, also from Washington University, is in biological engineering sciences.

University photos and video of Commencement will be posted on Flickr and YouTube. In addition, customizable keepsake books featuring professional photos of the ceremony will be available for order. To order a DVD of the ceremony, please contact the Commencement Office at commencement@wustl.edu.

Be part of the conversation with #WashU16

Executive MBA Class 45 will be the first to march to Pomp & Circumstance this year at their Diploma and Awards Ceremony Saturday scheduled for April 30, 2016, 10:30 a.m. in Emerson Auditorium, Knight Hall.

John Herber

The keynote speaker will be John Herber. He is the Managing Partner of RubinBrown, St. Louis. Founded in 1952, RubinBrown LLP is one of the nation’s leading accounting and professional consulting firms. As a Partner in the Assurance Services Group, Herber serves clients in the Manufacturing and Distribution service industries.

Herber’s consulting experience includes strategic planning and individual, business and estate tax planning. John is an active community leader and was also named one of the Most Influential St. Louisans by the St. Louis Business Journal in 2011 and 2012.

Patrick Smith

Class 45 elected classmate Patrick E. Smith, Sr. as their class speaker. Smith is the Senior Director of Metro Division Operations and Community Relations for Ameren Missouri. He leads four Missouri operating divisions engaged in the safe design, installation, and maintenance of the electrical distribution system. This includes service to nearly 800,000 customers in Missouri from the Mississippi River to the western St. Charles border. He also leads business and community relations strategies for Ameren Missouri.

Smith’s career has spanned three decades at Ameren beginning as a journeyman lineman. He rose to his current position in senior leadership after serving in positions from supervisor of electrical operations to strategic analyst and superintendent of operations for the company. Smith has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. He and his wife, Crystal, have two children in college. He is active in the community and passionate about youth leadership development.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Shaker Sadasivam, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, SunEdison Semiconductor, will deliver the keynote address at the Olin Diploma and Awards on Friday, December 18, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. in Graham Chapel.

Dr. Shaker Sadasivam is a product and technology development specialist with a keen talent for generating positive return on invested capital and managing product profitability. Shaker’s influence in the semiconductor industry has been significant. Since 1993, he has played a key role developing proprietary crystal growth technologies and has substantially enhanced corporate operations, grown market share, and strengthened customer relations. SunEdison Semiconductor customers have benefitted from his industry knowledge and technological expertise, as well as his hands-on collaborative approach to critical product development. Shaker has held numerous positions within SunEdison semiconductor, including serving as Executive Vice President & President-Semiconductor Materials, Senior Vice President-Research & Development, President of Semi Japan, Director of U.S. Technology, Corporate Director for Operations Technology, and Director of Research & Development for Semiconductor Operations in Korea. Shaker holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University and an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology–Bombay in Mumbai India. He earned his MBA from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

I hope you will join us as we celebrate our Olin graduates on this momentous occasion.

Listed below find the awards and honors for the Diploma and Awards Ceremony on Friday, December 18. Congratulations to all! If your schedule permits, please join us as we celebrate the accomplishments of this newest group of Olin graduates.

Taylor Outstanding Service Award
Sijia Liu  
Awarded to the graduating student who has participated in multiple Taylor Community Consulting projects to enable positive change in the St. Louis community. The Taylor Community Consulting Program provides students the opportunity to impact the local nonprofit sector through team-based, applied learning projects.

Professional MBA Peer Recognition Award
Margaret Elizabeth Louis       
Awarded to the graduating Professional MBA student who, in the opinion of his or her fellow students, best exemplifies the qualities of character, leadership, and service and also enjoys the respect, admiration and affection of his or her classmates.

Professional MBA Achievement Award
Molly Mulligan  
Awarded to the graduating Professional MBA student who best exemplifies the qualities of integrity, loyalty, intelligence, and high moral character as judged by the faculty.

Outstanding Accounting Student Award 
Xin Julia Qu  
Awarded to the graduating Master of Accounting student who, in the judgment of the faculty, exhibits the strongest academic achievement and the most potential in the field of accounting.

Professional MBA Hiram and Mary Neuwoehner Prize 
Kevin Brian Ritter 
Awarded by the faculty to the graduating Professional MBA student who has been the most substantive addition to the evening program by way of contributions in the classroom and excellence in writing papers and taking examinations. This award was established by Mary Neuwoehner in the 1990s to honor her husband, Hiram Neuwoehner, BSBA ’41, a St. Louis advertising executive and founder of Batz-Hodgson-Neuwoehner Inc.

Outstanding Finance Student Award
Chuyi Sun
Awarded to the graduating Master of Science in Finance student who, in the judgment of the faculty, exhibits the strongest academic achievement and the most potential in the field of finance.

Taylor Outstanding Service Award
 Xinyi Xu     
Awarded to the graduating student who has participated in multiple Taylor Community Consulting projects to enable positive change in the St. Louis community. The Taylor Community Consulting Program provides students the opportunity to impact the local nonprofit sector through team-based, applied learning projects.

Outstanding Supply Chain Management Student Award
Qiaoxi Yang  
Awarded to the graduating Master of Science in Supply Chain Management student who, in the judgment of the faculty, exhibits the strongest academic achievement and the most potential in the field of supply chain management.

Outstanding Customer Analytics Student Award
 Yi You 
Awarded to the graduating Master of Science in Customer Analytics student who, in the judgment of the faculty, exhibits the strongest academic achievement and the most potential in the field of customer analytics.

Outstanding Supply Chain Management Student Award 
Junyan Zhang
Awarded to the graduating Master of Science in Supply Chain Management student who, in the judgment of the faculty, exhibits the strongest academic achievement and the most potential in the field of supply chain management.

In January 2013 I started a journey that has shaped the woman I am today. I agonized over what to wear and worried about who I would sit with at lunch, much like I did on my first day of school 22 years earlier.

Guest Blogger: Colleen Wilson, PMBA Class 35, graduated May 15, 2015

As I walked into the lecture room on the first day of orientation, I picked a seat near the door in case my nervous stomach continued to act up and I had to make a run for the nearest ladies room. I also folded up a small garbage bag and put it in my purse in case I could not find said bathroom. I sat next to a sweet girl named Meg, and a goofy guy named Mike. And over the course of the day, my nervousness melted away and I started to feel at home with the fun people I would spend the next two and a half years with.

Over the course of those two and a half years, these would be the people we threw Christmas parties with and had BBQs with in the summer; people whose weddings and babies we would celebrate, and whose losses we would mourn together; people we stayed up late with working on papers and projects and drinking with at school until midnight; people we talked to often more times a day than our own spouses or partners.

That room of 54 other faces grew into lifelong friends I will never forget. It is composed of strong men and women leaders who have quit safe jobs and started innovative companies, fell in love, started families, moved to new cities, and pushed themselves to try new things and take risks.

It has been one of the most wild and fun rides of my life, and in a way, I am very sad to see it end. Congratulations to my fellow graduates and PMBA 35 folks – you are some of the brightest, funniest, most courageous and insane people I have met, and I feel so fortunate to have crossed your path.

A huge congratulations to my fellow graduates and an even larger THANK YOU to the spouses, partners, family, and friends who have helped make it possible.