Category Archives: News

Last Thursday, the BHP family that I joined 4 years ago got together to celebrate our amazing trip together and the spirit of giving back. The finale was the conclusion of the Make-A-Mark Campaign to raise money for scholarships to attract the best an brightest future BHP students and keep our program competitive with the top business and liberal arts schools in the nation.

After the most successful campaign ever – 99% participation and over $20,000 raised not including alumni, faculty staff, and corporate matching donations – we were ready to celebrate a little. After checking in, chatting with Dean Gilligan and Dr. Prentice, and taking a class picture for all ages with the carefree faces of seniors who have been through it all, we were ready for dinner.

With nostalgic memories and hairstyles-past flashing on the TV behind us, we enjoyed a wonderful 3-course meal and some laughs. Midway through our feast, Professor Bermiss (donning my Stetson cowboy hat) said a few words about the importance of giving back and unveiled his faded mohawk– our reward for reaching 80% participation. (I later got to witness Professor Burris shave his head bald for reaching 85%.)

 Next,  Shelley and Dr. Prentice gave a few words on the scholarship and Dr. Prentice handed me a check for $2,500 towards the campaign — our spoils for reaching 90%. Dinner concluded with the announcement of the BHP Outstanding Student Awards and Doenges Award followed by the raffling off of over 20 prizes from a free hookah rental (the proud owner here) to free Southwest tickets, a laptop, and even a Texas Exes life membership!

After dinner, there was one last thing to do: taking out our frustrations from 4 years on the one advisor we all love…to hate. In all seriousness, Brent Winkelman was a real sport as the three highest donors — Austin, Michael, and Madison — all got their chance to pie him in the face. Strategies ranged from direct hits to maximum hair contact, and Brent got it good, taking our aggression in the best way possible – jovially.

 All in all, the finale was the BHPerfect way to celebrate our success and spend one of our last precious nights in college together. Thank you to all the seniors who donate and who made my last four years amazing. I will miss you guys. Hook ’em forever.

–Bhargav Srinivasan

Last Tuesday, April 24th, the University presented its annual Swing Out Awards, which honor student organizations that have demonstrated excellence in leadership on campus. Not surprisingly, more than half of the winning student organizations are led by BHP seniors. Congratulations to all of our student leaders for their tremendous work!

Honors Business Association — Best Social Organization (President – Heather Graham)

Undergraduate Business Council — Best Academic/Departmental Organization and Most Improved Organization (President – Michael Daehne)

Indian Cultural Association — Best Cultural Organization (President – Anuj Khandelwal)

Texas Orange Jackets — Best Spirit Organization (President – Erica Brody)

Asian Business Student Association — Best Professional Organization (President – Grace Kim)

Punjabbawockeez — Best Recreational Organization and Most Outstanding Organization (Leaders – Sameer Desai and Arjun Desai)

Delta Kappa Delta – Greek Awards Outstanding President (President – Neelam Mistry)

Congratulations to the Honors Business Association for winning the “Best Social Organization” Award  at the 2012 Swing Out Awards presentation on April 24th. The Swing Out Awards are given by the University of Texas Leadership and Ethics Institute (LEI) to student organizations that have demonstrated excellence in leadership on campus. Winning this campus-wide award is quite an accomplishment. The BHP salutes HBA officers Heather Graham, Shalin Dalal, Melissa Beaver, Forrest Ripley, Jordan Ripley, Justine Taylor-Raymond, Todd Storm, and Chris Nguyen for their truly outstanding work in 2011-2012!

The BHP Spring Town Hall Meeting took place yesterday with more than 80 BHP students and faculty in attendance, each hungry to provide input on the program and to eat the Torchy’s Tacos that were present. The event kicked off with Dr. Prentice delivering a State of the BHP Address that recognized the many recent accomplishments by BHP students and staff. Dr. Prentice also explained how the suggestions from previous town hall meetings were already being implemented, such as moving BA 324 to the first semester of freshman year for BHP students. One of the highlights was the unveiling of a new BHP CIBER program to Buenos Aires that is in the works and will hopefully take place starting in the summer of 2014.

The rest of the meeting allowed students to ask questions, voice concerns, and offer suggestions to improve BHP. Several issues that were discussed included how to better integrate sophomore admits and how to best utilize group work in classes such as Marketing 337H and MIS 301H. Many students also offered their opinions on the best use of BA 101H and how it could be structured to best educate freshmen about the different business majors. The meeting concluded after two hours of discussion that featured many promising new ideas for the future of BHP.

Saturday April 24 reminded me not only why I love being in Austin, but also a Business Honors student at The University of Texas.

This Saturday was the 2nd Annual BHP Golf Tournament, and it could not have been a better day. For April in Texas, it was a mild 75 degrees when my team teed off at 10:40 a.m. The day only got better, and by the end of the tournament, I realized how unique this event really was. 

First, it was a great experience to interact with BHP students from other grades and majors that I don’t get to see on a regular basis. Second, having corporate partners present from Dell and BP made the event much more exciting, because not only were we out having fun with fellow students, we were learning about their respective companies and what it was like to be a young professional- a subject that I find particularly interesting as graduation is only a couple of weeks away. Third, the scramble format of the tournament immediately built camaraderie among the groups, and allowed a mediocre-at-best player like me to have fun. I have to give a shout out to Chris Ruppert, fellow senior and scratch golfer who carried our group to what should have been a tournament victory… 

Whether I was hooking a drive into the woods or watching a rarely-made long putt, I couldn’t help but have a good time on the course surrounded by good people on a great day. The only thing that lasted longer than my smile that day was the sunburn.

— Robert Austin Shires