Dr. Elizabeth Tashjian, an associate professor of Finance at the David Eccles School of Business, was honored in a campus ceremony Thursday as one of the University of Utah’s 2013 Beacons of Excellence Award recipients.
The award is recognition of all that Tashjian has done to enhance the undergraduate experience of students. There were 270 nominees from across all aspects of the university considered for the honor, and people, programs and projects committed to excellence and providing “transformational experiences” for undergraduates were all in the discussion by the selection committee.
Tashjian was honored in the Union Ballroom along with her fellow Beacons of Excellence Award recipients. Those included Jill Baeder, associate director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, as well as the School of Medicine’s Academic Associate Research Program, the College of Health’s Students Promoting Eating-disorder Awareness and Knowledge (SPEAK), and the College of Fine Arts’ Theatre, Fine Arts, and Humanities in London Learning Abroad Program.
In choosing Tashjian, the selection committee of campus community members called the woman we all know as “Liz” as a “powerhouse for connecting students to her discipline of Finance as well as the joy of learning at the University of Utah.”
“I had a number of excellent and engaging professors during my time at Utah, but Professor Tashjian is in a class of her own in terms of her commitment to fostering engaging and transformational experiences for students,” wrote one student in a class evaluation the committee cited in their deliberations.
Aside from leading classes that have garnered her numerous campus and community awards, Tashjian engages students through her advising and mentorship of the Finance Club, teaching and facilitating the Student Investment Fund and leading the Week on Wall Street trip for Finance students. As one of the students who nominated her for the award noted, “she has changed the lives of countless students, including myself. Liz is a teacher, a mentor, and a friend. She challenged me and my peers to challenge ourselves, both in and out of the classroom.”
Congrats, Liz!