Announcing the 2016 Business Week Award Winners

Business Week 2016 ended on a high note as the “of the year” award winners were announced at a celebration dinner at TCF Bank Stadium on April 14. Meet the honorees, some of the best and brightest of the Carlson School community:

Freshman of the Year – Pushkar Chaubal

Pushkar Chaubal is a part of numerous organizations on campus, including holding leadership positions in the UMN Mock Trial Team, the Business Association of Multicultural Students, +One, University Student Legal Services, and the Youth Music Education Foundation where he volunteers his time to provide scholarships to children pursuing music. He plans to major in MIS and finance, with a minor in computer science.

This summer, Chaubal will intern at Land O’Lakes. After graduation, he hopes to go into technology advisory or consulting, and use his love for technology to solve problems for other companies.

Sophomore of the Year – Olivia Kinney

Olivia Kinney is involved in Women in Business, is the director of internal communications of CoMIS, vice president of brotherhood of Delta Sigma Pi, and the founder of the Career and Internship Club. She volunteers at Holiday Boutique at Atonement Lutheran Church and Feed My Starving Children.

After graduation, she aspires to explore the world, and fill a consulting role at a firm in Minneapolis.

Junior of the Year – Hattie Holm

Hattie Holm volunteers with Love Your Melon, serves as the vice captain of the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Campus Crew, and is the community service chair at Alpha Kappa Psi. She also heads up a golf tournament fundraiser to honor U of M and Alpha Kappa Psi alumnus and 9/11 hero, Tom Burnett Jr., and volunteers with the Starkey Hearing Gala, Children’s Cancer Research Fund, and Scout Guide Minneapolis.

She is a marketing and MIS double major. She is currently working at Ovative/group, a small company that specializes in digital marketing and consulting. In the more distant future, she hopes to utilize her skills to start her own business, to help smaller companies and non-profits.

Senior of the Year – Hannah Peterson
 

Hannah Peterson is highly involved in the Carlson School community. Her involvement over the past four years includes student organizations such as WIB, AMA, Alpha Kappa Psi, and three years on the Business Week planning committee. In addition, she volunteers with the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life, and Feed My Starving Children.

Peterson, a marketing major, has accepted a full-time offer with Polaris in its Sales and Marketing Leadership Development Program after graduation. 

Student of the Year – Steven Kislenko 
 

Steven Kislenko has been an active member of U-Finance, Club MIS, SAFA, and has served on the BWeek planning committee each of his four years at the Carlson School.  As a member of the University Honor’s Program, he has also served as a mentor for incohannahming honors students the past two years. 

This fall, Kislenko, an accounting and finance double major, will join Deloitte as an audit associate in its Chicago office.  He hopes to pass his CPA exams this summer. 

Staff of the Year – Kathy Evenson-McDermott 
 

Kathy Evenson-McDermott is an Associate Academic Adviser in the Undergraduate Office. She has been instrumental in the development of the international experience requirement. Along with advising her assigned students, Evenson-McDermott works closely with the Carlson Global Institute to manage the orientation process for all students departing on their education abroad experience each semester as well as serve the 100 or so exchange students that come to the Carlson School each year.

Faculty of the Year – Aamir Khan

Senior Lecturer Aamir Khan has been with the Carlson School Finance Department since 2014. As an instructor for Finance 3001, he has the opportunity to interact with a large number of undergraduate students during their I-CORE experience.

Prior to teaching at the Carlson School, he taught at universities in North Carolina, Maryland, and Texas.  He received his MBA from Fayetteville State University and his PhD in Finance from the University of Texas, Arlington. 

Business Week is a one-week celebration focusing on the Carlson School and its connections to the business community. This year's theme, “Life: Game On,” was chosen to show students the excitement of college and the many opportunities that come with the college experience.