Class of 2020 | School of Business

Yasmine Shwayhat ’20

Yasmine was selected by a committee of faculty and staff to give the Class of 2020's student address. She is a management major and digital arts minor from Windsor, CT. On campus, Yasmine is president of the Business Management Society, a Writing Center tutor, and has been actively involved in the W Center's Fellows program. Yasmine studied abroad at the University of Hong Kong in the fall of 2019. She cites Hong Kong-style milk tea and the vast geographical variation as her favorite parts of the city. In her free time, Yasmine enjoys playing soccer, watching an obscene amount of movies and Broadway shows, heavily advocating for the Oxford comma, and attempting to learn Hans Zimmer songs on the piano.

The University of Connecticut Honors Program recognizes outstanding students who have successfully completed honors courses of unusual breadth and depth, as well as a thesis or service project in their major field.

David J. Bigos, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: David Webber
“The Effect of SOX 404(b) on Large Non-Accelerated Filers’ Earnings Per Share Rounding Behavior”

Noah H. Burrick, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Yaacov Kopeliovich
“Dissecting Convertible Bonds: How Debt and Equity Combine to Valuate a Company”

Ellen M. Chirikos, Management
Thesis Advisor: Kyoungjo Oh
“Being Emotionally Savvy at Work: How Stress Affects Job Satisfaction as a Function of Emotional Labor”

Alexander P. Dillon, Marketing
Thesis Advisor: Heidi Bailey
“Developing a Sustainable Marketing Approach for Connecticut Environmental Action Day”

Julianna S. Elmasri, Healthcare Management
Thesis Advisor: William Pace
“The Impact of Obesity on the United States Economy”

Alex R. Greco, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Paul Gilson
“The Effect of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Profitability of Firms in the Banking Sector”

Katie L. Hillowe, Real Estate & Urban Economics
Thesis Advisor: Jeffrey Cohen
“The Rise of Transit Oriented Development”

Weihan Li, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: Steven Utke
“The Effect of 2017 New Tax Law to Federal Government”

Ian C. MacDonald, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Alexander Amati
“Does FinTech make the Gambling Industry More Competitive?”

Brian T. Maher, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Michel Rakotomavo
“A Study of the Green Bond Market and the Potential for U.S. Corporates to Enter as Issuers”

Emily McKenna, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: Arthur Schmeiser
“An Industry on the Rise: Accounting and Auditing of Cannabis”

Michael V. Nanfito, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: Todd Kravet
“Stock Buybacks and the Intentions of Executives”

Caitlyn L. Pesavento, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Paul Gilson
“Trusting the System: The Impact of SEC Insider Trading Complaints on Stock Prices”

Robert W. Saraco, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: Alina Lerman
“Market Reaction to the Level of Detail in Initial Earnings Calls”

Yasmine M. Shwayhat, Management
Thesis Advisor: Kevin Thompson
“The Recovery Files: An Original Text-Based Game Created for Training at the CT Community for Addiction Recovery”

Priyanka Thakkar, Management Information Systems
Thesis Advisor: Jonathan Moore
“Ápplication of Technical Solutions for the Betterment of Student and Campus Life”

Morgan Van Liew, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Alexander Amati
“Does Changing Investor Sentiment Drive ESG Performance?”

Brendan Weller, Finance
Thesis Advisor: Alexander Amati
“CLOs: A Nightmarish Scenario Ahead?”

Tara R. White, Marketing
Thesis Advisor: Heidi Bailey
“Developing a Sustainable Marketing Approach for CEAD”

Karina S. Zhao, Accounting
Thesis Advisor: Ying Zhou
“Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: The Case of the Fashion Industry”

Four Years of Memories

We came in as the most diverse class in UConn’s history, filled with valedictorians, salutatorians, enthusiastic students, agents of change and overall great people.
August 2017: UConn opens new Hartford campus!
August 2017: UConn Stamford debuts its first student housing with some 260 students excited to move in to state-of-the-art apartments.
The #MeToo movement began during our college years.
In December 2017, entrepreneur Peter J. Werth pledged $22.5 million for entrepreneurship and innovation at UConn.
Students in the newly formed BCLC in Stamford visited Vineyard Vines, “Shark Tank’’ and other prominent businesses. The New York Yankees invited 34 School of Business students (from Storrs and Stamford) to an April 2018 game and to learn more about job opportunities with the club.
Basketball remained a UConn Husky obsession. How could we forget these players?
We said goodbye to President Susan Herbst and hello to President Tom Katsouleas
We celebrated the opening of the best Rec Center anywhere!
We said goodbye to some of our favorite retiring professors and hello to some new faces.
No one was sledding down Horsebarn Hill in January of our senior year…it was more like flip-flop weather. On Jan. 12, the high temp was 69 degrees!
We mourned the loss of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi, who dreamed of playing basketball at UConn.
Huskython 2020, our grand finale, raised a record-breaking $1.5 million for the kids at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
The Dairy Bar served up “You Matter Cake Batter’’—cake batter with brownie pieces and mocha fudge swirl-- as the senior scoop.
Every business student is adept at the strong handshake, but by March we were also versed in the ‘elbow bump’ greeting and had embraced “social distancing.’’
March 30, 2020: Spring Break winds up and due to COVID-19, classes switch to an online format for the rest of the semester.
Throughout our time at UConn, we won awards, we helped other people, we celebrated our success, we studied (a lot), we laughed, we cried, we changed the future, we traveled the world and we became stronger than before.