Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty and students. To submit items for consideration, contact your school’s communication manager. 

Students Win Ethics Case Competition

A student duo recently won first place at the University of Arizona’s 17th annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition.

McDermott Scholar Paulina Hruskoci and accounting senior Ethan Mader teamed up to win a national ethics case competition.

Accounting senior Ethan Mader and political science freshman Paulina Hruskoci, a McDermott Scholar, went up against teams from 24 other universities and placed ahead of UT Austin to win the competition held Oct. 17-19 in Tucson.

It was the second time that UT Dallas students have won the competition. Two students from the Naveen Jindal School of Management placed first in 2014.

The case this year centered on Boeing Co. and its response to two deadly crashes of its 737 Max airplanes in 2018. Teams were asked to evaluate the company’s handling of the crisis and develop recommendations for Boeing moving forward.

Mader and Hruskoci researched the issues and established a position. Their faculty advisor Christina Betanzos, clinical assistant professor of accounting, and other Jindal School faculty helped them polish their content and presentations.

As top finishers, Mader and Hruskoci each received $500 and a travel award to attend the Ethics Global Summit hosted by the Ethisphere Institute in April in New York City.

Student Media Groups Garner Awards

Student staff members from The Mercury display awards they received from the College Media Association. Front row, from left: Marco Salinas and Anna Phengsakmueang. Back row, from left: Chiamaka Mgboji, Emaan Bangash, Cindy Folefack, Ryan Magee and Samantha Lopez.

Each of the University’s student media groups recently received awards from one of the three largest college media organizations during their fall national conventions.

The Mercury, Radio UTD, AMP and UTD TV received awards at the National College Media Convention, which was jointly hosted by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and the College Media Association (CMA), as well as at the National Student Electronic Media Convention.

“UT Dallas students’ work continues to be among the best in the country,” said Chad Thomas, director of student media. “Our media participants are receiving increasing recognition for their multimedia and digital media productions as well as their print and broadcast reporting. It really speaks to the breadth of their talent.”

The Mercury was a finalist for the ACP Newspaper Pacemaker Award for the seventh consecutive year and received its second Online Pacemaker Award. The Mercury also placed first in three CMA Pinnacle Award categories, including Four-Year Less-than-Weekly Newspaper of the Year.

AMP magazine staffers, including psychology senior and McDermott Scholar Ruqiya Barreh (left), ATEC senior Emily Huffman and ATEC senior and McDermott Scholar Cameron Bossalini, collected a College Media Association Pinnacle Award for an editorial cartoon illustrated by alumna Eunjee Chong.

AMP, the student opinion magazine, placed first for CMA’s best editorial illustration. Radio UTD was second for best student media website from the College Broadcasters Inc. UTD TV took several third-place awards for sports reporting and sports broadcast from CMA and College Broadcasters.

Deja Rollins, assistant director of student media, said the national awards validate the students’ hard work. “My favorite part is watching how excited our students are to implement new ideas they pick up during workshops and seeing them collaborate with other print and broadcast organizations from across the nation. They bring all of that knowledge and experience back to campus,” she said.