Magnificent OIM Awards Celebration 2026

On April 20, 2026, my Operations and Information Management (OIM) Department at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst helds its Awards Celebration event.

A big CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the amazing students that were recognized and to the recipient of the OIM Distinguished Alumni Award Paul Cichocki! The awards celebration, which included a delicious banquet meal at The Inn at Boltwood in Amherst, was lovely - with expert organization, thanks to the Department Chair Professor Senay Solak, the Associate Department Chair Professor Michele Burch, and our great Office Manager Samantha Whittle. 

Congratulations to: the RSM U.S. Foundation Consulting Scholarship Recipients: Iris Cabral and Kamila Velez; The NCG Operations and Information Scholarship Recipient: Wendy Zou, and to The Nagurney Scholarship Recipient: Campbell Hatcher. Bravo to the Isenberg Senior Leadership Award Recipient: Gowri Vellanki and to Spencer Zbitnoff on his Isenberg Academic Excellence Award. The OIM Exceptional Impact Scholarship Recipients are: Reese Barnett, Suzanne Patti, Alfonso Alvarez Ribeiro, and Josie Wu! Congratulations to all the OIM Elevate Scholarship Awardees: Darrius Lupo, Ryan Bonia, and Carolin Zorrilla We also recognized two PhD students with the OIM Elevate Scholarship: Yue Xue, who is pursuing her doctorate in Information Systems, and Solmaz Abbaspour, who is pursuing hers in Operations Management. 

Many thanks to the OIM Faculty Scholarship Committee Members: Professors Susan Boyer, Ying Liu, and Shirley Shmerling. Many of the faculty, students, and their supporters lingered after the ceremony as we basked in the warmth of this truly special academic community. Best to all our students as they pursue their dreams!

This was the third time that my department held such an Awards Celebration and it is one of our favorite events of the academic year. It was also very special to have Campbell Hatcher receive The Nagurney Scholarship, which my husband and I established. Campbell wrote us a lovely letter a while back. She is majoring not only in OIM but also in Sport Management and, after her graduation next week, will be joining Kerry in Wisconsin. Her work ethic and engagement in so many activities, including mentoring ones, while working about 25 hours a week are inspiring.

Photos from the Isenberg Scholarship Celebration

This evening, we had the pleasure of attending the Isenberg Scholarship Celebration at the Marriott Center at UMass Amherst.  There was some competition this evening since Jack '56 and Suzy Welch were also on campus promoting their new book.

I was not going to miss the scholarship celebration since it was the second time that The Nagurney Scholarship was being given to a very deserving student and there were many other students recognized with scholarships and other awards.

This year's recipient of The Nagurney Scholarship, which my husband and I endowed,  is a double major in Computer Science plus Operations and Information Management!

I also got to see some faculty and several of our PhD students, including my doctoral student, Sara Saberi, who was again recognized with the Isenberg Scholar Award (which she received twice) and today we heard other great news that Sara is also a recipient of the 2014-2015 Outstanding Doctoral Researcher Award.  Now is certainly the time of the year in academia in which we recognize great students and what a pleasure this is!

It was terrific to see several award-winning Operations and Information Management majors at this event.

The food was delicious and the conversations lively.  Associate Dean Linda Shea did a great job as an announcer and moderator with each student being recognized individually.

 

 Two highlights were the speeches by Vinnie Daboul '87, who was the alumni speaker, and whose daughter is graduating this year from the Isenberg School, and by Marty Boyle '15, who spoke on his great 4 years at Isenberg.

Finally, it was wonderful to see Andrew Clendinneng, a fellow Canadian, who is our Executive Director of Development, and who  closed the lovely evening with his remarks.

Congratulations to all the remarkable students and thanks to the donors for their support. Mr. Daboul had several quotes from Kahlil Gibran on the importance of giving back - well said!