Spring 2018 Loudder Medal of Excellence recipients celebrated

Mays Business School recognized 27 undergraduate students as Spring 2018 Martha Loudder Medal of Excellence recipients for their willingness to invest additional effort into their academics.

Named for Mays Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Accounting Professor Marty Loudder, the medal recognizes students who intentionally engage in their educations in and out of the classroom, and who engage in the reflective portfolio process to maximize their learning.

To be eligible for the medal, students first participate in a minimum of three high-impact experiences such as a peer educator position, an internship, or a learning community. Each student then completes a comprehensive learning portfolio, which includes self-awareness exercises and reflections on key experiences like those above.

The portfolio is showcased on a personal website, and serves as the final selection criterion for the Loudder Medal. Reviewers look for comprehensiveness, depth, and clear connections among stories, lessons learned, and future goals.

The Loudder Medal of Excellence is a graduation-day distinction that recognizes commitment to learning beyond degree requirements. This year’s recipients were:

• Julia Alonzo-Aughinbaugh
• Joseph Bionat
• Kayli Burton
• Mary Chacko
• Chandler Clark
• Jac Clark
• Alyssa Dan
• Shelby Dumaine
• Emma Gaas
• Brittany Gardner
• Natalie Irwin
• Victor Jimenez
• Rachel Keathley
• Dimitri Koufakis
• Haylee Matecko
• Lauren Moore
• Katie Morey
• Matthew Mulkey
• Nick Novy
• Chelsea Rios
• Reid Seger
• Angela Shipp
• Zach Smith
• Corey Smith
• Caitlyn Tunnell
• Hannah Walsh
• Kate Wellmann

Loudder’s legacy

Patrick Williams, assistant director of the Undergraduate Advising Office, told the stories at the recognition ceremony of how Loudder decided 20 years ago to begin an ACCT 327 semester very differently. “Rather than using the first day to explain how difficult the course would be, she decided she would give the students a chance to get to know her as a whole person,” he said. “They all sat in a circle on the floor of that classroom–not as instructor and students…just people getting to know each other as people.”

He said Loudder “has pioneered, or championed or/and funded many programs and initiatives at Mays Business School committed to developing lifelong and integrated learners.”

Loudder also brought on Nancy Simpson, director of Undergraduate Special Programs. “When Marty brought Nancy to Mays, she brought a person fiercely devoted to the belief that the best version of each and every one of our students is something that the world needs; that the communities they land in are better because they’re in it,” he said. “If Marty represents the heart of our commitment to whole-person education, then Nancy is the soul of it.”

He also urged the students receiving the medals: “To the extent that your undergraduate experience at Mays Business School was transformed…to the extent that it was defined by the kind of learning experience that is the portfolio process, then before you leave here today, I would encourage you to find Nancy or Marty and say thank you, because that experience happened in the house that they built.”