4 Carlson Grads Win President’s Leadership and Service Award

Four recent Carlson graduates are recipients of the 2018 President’s Student Leadership and Service Award (PSLSA). They include Caleb Murphy, ’18 MBA, ’18 MD; Contessa Boorman, ’18 BSB; Dylan Wright, ’18 MBA; and Karyn Christianson, ’18 MBA.

Caleb Murphy   
Murphy, a dual-degree graduate, is currently a resident physician of internal medicine at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. While at the Carlson School he was a member of a team that took first place in the Medtronic Case Competition in 2016.   

Besides the PSLSA, he is also a 2018 recipient of the Mary A. McEvoy Award for Public Engagement and Leadership. This award is given to students who display leadership and public engagement above and beyond their normal duties and responsibilities.

Contessa Boorman    
Boorman is currently a marketing and communications intern at U.S. Bank. While at the Carlson School, she was named a U.S. Bank Future Leader. Majoring in business and marketing, she was the president and co-founder of the President’s Emerging Scholars (PES) Student Board. She managed 10 board members in planning monthly personal and professional development events to engage more than 2,000 multicultural PES students.   

She also took part in Women in Business and the GLOBE International Student Program as well as being on the Business Week Executive Committee.

Dylan Wright   
Wright served as vice president of communications on the MBA Association, the Full-Time MBA student government body. He also helped start and ran for two years the Minneapolis/St. Paul Small Business Case Competition. This competition was designed to provide students with real-world experience solving practical business problems and provide businesses in the community with access to high-quality solutions to actual problems they may be facing.   

He also started the Carlson Arts and Business Club with two other students. The goal of the club is to expose business students to the cultural experiences available in the Twin Cities as well as promote an understanding of how to engage with arts organizations through board membership and other forms of support. He also served on the board of the Partners’ Club, an organization whose mission is to ensure students’ partners are also connected to the Carlson community.

Karyn Christianson   
Christianson was the president of Carlson 4 Community, the school’s leading student organization promoting volunteerism and community involvement within the Twin Cities. Its biggest event is the annual Carlson MBA Charity Auction, which benefits a different local charity each year as selected by the student body.   

She was also the president of the Fellows and Ambassadors Board, a Women’s Leadership Conference marketing committee team member, a team lead in the Carlson Brand Enterprise, and a member of the Elite 8 Case Competition team in 2017 and 2018.   

She interned at General Mills in an associate marketing manager role and is returning full-time this summer.   

Facilitated in coordination with the Office of the President, Office for Student Affairs, University of Minnesota Alumni Association, and Student Unions and Activities, the PSLSA recognizes the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding student leaders at the University of Minnesota. It is presented to approximately one-half of one percent of the student body for its exceptional leadership and service to the University and the surrounding community.