2009 Phoenix Awards presented

Friday, April 17, 2009

Dr. Mark Payton, associate dean of the Graduate College, far right, congratulates 2009 Phoenix Award winners Dr. Ranga Komanduri, Outstanding Faculty Member; Amanda Mollet, Outstanding Master's Student; and Traci L. Naile, Outstanding Doctoral Student.

OSU Vice President for Student Affairs Lee Bird congratulates Jeffrey Anderson, second from left, on being named the 2009 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant. Receiving third place was Annmarie Nicely of Kingston, Jamaica, and second place went to Adrienne Redmond, Tulsa, far right.

(Stillwater, OK April 17, 2009) -- Amanda Mollet and Traci L. Naile were recently honored at the 27th annual Phoenix Awards with the highest awards given to graduate students by Oklahoma State University’s Graduate and Professional Student Government Association and the OSU Graduate College.

Also honored was the Outstanding Faculty Member, Dr. Ranga Komanduri, Regents Professor and Endowed Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Mollet, an educational leadership studies graduate student from Casper, Wyo., was named the Outstanding Master’s Student, and Naile, an agricultural education doctoral student from Whiteland, Ind., was named the Outstanding Doctoral Student.

Mollet and Naile were presented with certificates and $750 prizes, and their names will be engraved on the Phoenix Awards plaque located outside the Graduate College offices in Whitehurst Hall.

The Phoenix Awards recognize exemplary achievement in leadership, scholarship, professional involvement, and university and community service, especially involvement with graduate students. It is the highest honor presented by the association.

The awards are open to all OSU graduate students and faculty. Faculty members nominated the students for the outstanding master’s and doctoral student award, and graduate students nominated faculty members for the outstanding faculty award.

Finalists for this year’s master’s award were Eric Kennel, Okeana, Ohio, agricultural education graduate student; and Kaushal Maskey, Dharan, Nepal, graduate student in entomology and plant pathology; and finalists for the doctoral award were Tanya Franke, Archer City, Texas, agricultural education; and Hui Yang, Nanjing, China, industrial engineering and management.

Faculty award finalists were Dr. Kathleen D. Kelsey, agricultural education, communication and leadership professor; and Dr. Ramesh Sharda, Regents Professor and Conoco Chair, management science and information systems.

Jeffrey Anderson, Locust Grove doctoral student in psychology, received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award and was presented with $300 and a certificate. A circulating plaque with his name engraved will be housed in the College of Arts and Sciences for the next year.

Second place went to Adrienne Redmond, Tulsa doctoral student in professional education, and third place went to Annmarie Nicely, Kingston, Jamaica, doctoral student in hospitality administration.

Finalists for the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award were Mary Gard, Muskogee botany graduate student; Jacqueline Berryman, Stillwater geology graduate student; and Michael Hass, Rapid City, S.D., business administration doctoral student.