Student Awards
Overview
Each semester, the Department of Finance recognizes three outstanding graduating finance majors and one outstanding graduating insurance student with the following four awards. All awards are based on several factors including cumulative grade point average, performance in specific classes and contributions to the university and college communities.
Only the “top 10” graduating finance students, based solely on grade point average, are invited to apply for consideration for the three finance awards.
Any student completing the insurance minor, from any major, with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher is invited to apply for consideration for the insurance award.
ConocoPhillips Award for Outstanding Achievement in Finance
This award recognizes the strong relationship between the Department of Finance and our students, and ConocoPhillips. ConocoPhillips supports the department with annual gifts that we use to fund scholarships for some of our best students, provide research resources for our faculty, and support student professional clubs (Finance Club and ALPFA). In addition, ConocoPhillips provides many internship and professional employment opportunities to our students.
Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement in Finance
This award is the most prestigious honor given to graduating finance majors. The recipient of this award is selected by the faculty and is also the department’s nominee for the NMSU Alumni Association Outstanding Graduate Award for the College of Business. This award is funded through gifts to the department from the faculty.
Mountain States Insurance Group Award for Outstanding Achievement in Insurance
This award is given to an outstanding graduating insurance studies student. The award recognizes Mountain States Insurance Group for its generosity and foresight in providing a gift of $1 million to establish an endowed chair in insurance at NMSU. This “chair” was essential to the creation and growth of the insurance studies program at NMSU.
Peter Wichert Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Finance
This award was established to honor the memory of Peter Wichert who was a faculty member in Finance who passed away in June of 2004. Peter was an excellent teacher who was much beloved by finance students and by his colleagues in the college. This award was funded through gifts to the department from Peter’s family, friends, colleagues and students.