David Nazarian College of Business and Economics
David Nazarian College of Business and Economics
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Student Achievements & Recognitions

COMPETITIONS

  • CSUN Jeff Marine Bull Ring Competition
  •  -- Grand Prize: LS Trust Marketing, led by finance student Laci Sanchez
  • -- Second Place: Rethrifted with team members Andrea "Dre" Lopez and Iva Andrade
  •  -- Third Place: Atlas with team members Evan Jones and William Chavez
  • Small Business Institute Competition and Conference
  • Two undergraduate student teams from the Business Honors Program Capstone course secured first place at the 48th Small Business Institute Annual Conference.
    • -- First Place: Comprehensive category: Team members Kahleho Molapisi, Justin Tolchinsky, Keiana Samoy, Justin Keller and Marisol Zuniga
    • -- First Place: Consulting category: Team members Emily Emrani, Fernanda Reyes, Brenda Dzul, Keenon Takaki and Patrik Khan-Babaei
  •  Two graduate student teams from the Nazarian MBA Program entered consulting projects in the 48th Small Business Institute Annual Conference.
    • -- First Place: Graduate consulting/specialized category: Team members Ian Martin-Arujo, Katrin Babayan, Jake Dougherty and Fatoumata Goita
    •  -- Second Place: Graduate feasibility study/comprehensive category: Team members Edgar Banuelos, Bhavani Prasad, Taline Sarkisian, Chantal Sood and Diane Tran
  • International Business Ethics Case Competition
  •  -- Second Place: Christopher Mendoza, Joseph Coulombe, Gillian Watkins, Dominic Garcia and Eric Quinn won second place in three different categories at the University of Massachusetts, Mount Ida campus.

SCHOLARSHIPS/CERTIFICATES

  • Five students received scholarships from California’s Real Estate and Land Use Institute: Briana Rubio, Lakshdeep Sukhija, Vy L. Tran, Trisha Williams and Abdulrahman Fayssal.
  • Twenty-five students completed the Roadmap to Exporting program and received a certificate from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
  • 267 students received scholarships. Eighteen of those students received the Dean's Scholarship: Kevin Berookhim; Andres Casas; Rubi Amarillas-Canico; Harutyun Darbinyan; Leigha Hendrickson; Jennie Hwang; Xuan Liu; Yesenia Loopez-Pacheco; Azadeh Nazari; Monte Nazarian; Christopher Nowlin; Liza Perry; Emily Phan; Alex Pinwatana; Nahimur Rahman; Simar Takhar; Esteban Villalba and Trisha Williams

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

  • Emily Emrani was a finalist for the 2024 Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.

CO-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

  • Thirty students toured Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium to learn more about commercial real estate.
  • Fifteen students attended the VICA Extraordinary Women in Leadership breakfast event.
  • Nearly 300 students volunteered more than 31,000 hours at the CSUN VITA Clinic, under the supervision of CSUN Nazarian faculty.

HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

  • Sigma Nu Tau inaugurated its 50th chapter and inducted four student members: Talin Aivazian, Elizabeth Hernandez, Payton Moreno and Sankalp Pala.
  • Fifteen undergraduate students attended the VICA Extraordinary Women in Leadership breakfast event at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.
  • The CSUN VITA Clinicserved 9,722 taxpayers at 15 locations this year.
  • -- 282 students volunteered more than 31,000 hours at the clinic, under the supervision of expert CSUN Nazarian faculty.
  • -- These students helped local taxpayers claim more than $10.9 million in federal and state tax refunds and more than $3.6 million in federal and state-earned income tax credits while saving the taxpayers more than $2 million in preparation fees.

COMPETITIONS

  • CSUN Jeff Marine Bull Ring Competition.
  •  -- Grand Prize: Steal the Look, a social media and shopping app, led by Talin Aivazian, Elizabeth Hernandez, Minette Coye and Alen Canik
  • Fast Pitch New Venture competition
  •  -- Grand Prize: DuraPill led by Aidan Jasanis, Milca Oliva, Skyler Frias and Nadia Nateghi
  • Small Business Institute Experiential Learning Project of the Year Competition
  •  -- First Place -- Graduate feasibility/business plan category: Team members Alma Angel, Brain Friedman, Romario Gonzalez, Leticia Meza-Guerrero and Michael Shaffa took first place for “Valley Economic Alliance.”
  •  -- First Place -- Graduate specialized/consulting category: Team members Armand Abellian, Fatima Contreras, Sona Mheryan, Linet Onanian and Anabel Villalobos took first place for "Ollivier."
  • International Business Ethics Case Competition
  •  -- Second Place --Students won second place in their division for a 10-minute presentation
  • Sunstone CSU Entrepreneurship Competition
  •  -- Third Place -- Ori Kleyman (Tasty Treats) and Donald Palomino (From Nature) won third place in two different categories at the competition.

SCHOLARSHIPS/CERTIFICATES

  • Hundreds of Nazarian College students earned more than 1,800 third-party, skills-based certificates.
  • 269 scholarships awarded to Nazarian business students.
  • Students who received the dean's scholarship: Viviana Moreno-Calderon; Daelajunique Webb; Kimberly Espinoza Cruz; and Valerie Lopez.

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

  • Eden Shashoua--Named Outstanding Graduating Senior
  • Lacey Hall--Named Warner K. Masters award winner and Wolfson Scholar nominee
  • Sarandeep Singh--Named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar.
  • Ryan Kimmel, Kristen Yip and Hyejin Kim--Passed all four parts of the CPA exam

CO-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

  • Distinguished Speaker Series: TV host and CSUN alumnus Ramesh Damani (Spring, 2023)

EVENTS

  • Internship Fair Participants - 423
  • Industry Night Participants - 1,016

HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

  • Nazarian College's Beta Alpha Psi Chapter achieves international recognition as a "Superior Chapter," a significant accomplishment.
  • Nazarian College's Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter attains "Highest Honors Status," the most prestigious level of recognition a chapter can receive. 

2021-2022 Academic Year

COMPETITIONS

  •  CSUN Jeff Marine Bull Ring Competition
  • -- Grand Prize: Ryan Moradpour and An An Chang with Octobit, an online training platform with AI.
  • -- Second Place: Mark Ajina, Mickey Obispo and Jesus Garcia with SubmitIt,  a service for instructors that checks for potential plagiarism and saves time by grading students’ code.
  • -- Third Place: Ifeanyi Nnaji and Amira Judah with Canmove, a platform that connects apartment tenants and homeowners to independent drivers/moving companies.
  • CSUN Fast Pitch New Venture Competition
  •  -- Grand Prize: Ryan Moradpour and An An Chang with Octobit, an online training platform with AI.
  •  -- Second Place: Van Zellers, Annie Donaldson, Lukas Zelada and Tanner Sommer with Green Leather Co.
  •  -- Third Place: Eduardo Macias with TONEY.
  • Small Business Institute Experiential Learning Project of the Year
  •  -- First Place: Undergraduate consulting category: Students helped the in-person Hipcooks culinary school with a digital branding campaign.
  • -- Second Place: Undergraduate comprehensive category: Students on this team worked with Redflight Innovation that offers a science, technology, engineering and mathematical kit to middle-school students with limited access to technology.
  • -- First Place: Graduate feasibility/business plan category: Team members Jason Casio, Thomas Lee, Hannah Labra, Kristen Mossessori and Anna Russell took first place for “Stuck in a Maze.”
  •  -- First Place: Graduate specialized/consulting category: Team members Richard Klein, Wendy Medina, Amaris Miller, Kenny Oluwaseun Ukpong and Kenny Peneda took first place for "Teen Therapy Center."
  • CSU Venture Competition: Launched in May, the competition is a regional collaboration with the best teams from CSUN, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Fullerton participating.

 SCHOLARSHIPS/CERTIFICATES

  • More than 160 Nazarian business students awarded scholarships.
  • 145 students received SAP certification.
  • 73 students received a certification in Google Analytics; 55 students received certification in Google Ads Displays; and 44 students received certification in Google Ads Search.

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

  • Jennifer Nunez was named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar.
  • Elline Deogracias received the Outstanding Senior Award. 

CO-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

Distinguished Speaker Series: The Business of Sustainability with Dawn James (MSc, Geology ’03), Paul Jennings (Marketing ’85) and Kam Mahdi (Engineering ’84)--Spring '21

EVENTS

 More than 420 students and 64 employers attended Industry Night.

 HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

  • Nazarian College's Beta Alpha Psi Chapter achieves international recognition as a "Superior Chapter," a significant accomplishment.
  • Nazarian College's Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter attains "Highest Honors Status," the most prestigious level of recognition a chapter can receive. 

2020-2021 Academic Year

COMPETITIONS

  • CSUN Jeff Marine Bull Ring Competition
  • -- Grand Prize: Synergy Active Aero with students Jeffrey Astorga and George Aquino
  • -- Second Place: Bumewith students Leonel Hernandez, Marylin Castellon, Carlo Lupercio, Gyoung Hwa and Vidas Sileikis 
  • -- Third Place: NAPKN with Aaron Black and Santiago Martin
  • CSUN Fast Pitch New Venture Competition
  • -- First Place: Corgi Butt, a tabletop strategy game, led by Caroline Hartley and Christopher Meredith
  •  -- Second Place: PowerHealth, a bilingual nutrition app, led by Vanessa Sanchez and Erika Giroux
  •  -- Third Place: Inclusive Beauty, led by Rutha Shah, Nicole Galdamez, Lily Tatevosian and Kristina Serrano. Inclusive Beauty uses an intake quiz and algorithm to provide a clean and allergen-free custom cosmetic foundation.
  • AMA International Collegiate Conference—Matador AMA receives multiple awards:
  • -- Second Place: Best Recruitment Video
  • -- Third Place: Social Impact Video
  • -- AMA Marketing Week - Excellence Recognition (This is the highest recognition)
  • Small Business Institute Project of the Year Competition
  •  -- First Place: Undergraduate Comprehensive Project; Student Team: Sara Alteryd, Leila Esmaeili, and Marketa Pospechova

SCHOLARSHIPS

  • Nearly $300,000 in scholarships awarded to more than 200 Nazarian business students.

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

  • Daniel Bustos was named CSUN’s 2021 Wolfson Scholar, the highest honor awarded to one graduating senior.
  • Arev Mkrtchyan was named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar.
  • Arturo Garcia (MBA) received the Raytheon Technologies National Scholarship.
  • Aditi Dwivedi received the Outstanding Senior Award. 

CO-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

  • Distinguished Speaker Series: The Business of Entertainment Webinar, moderated by Nazarian College alumnus Bruce Gersh (Accounting ’91), Strategic Advisor and former President of PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly and PEOPLE en Espanol and Four M Studios at Meredith Corporation. Panelists were:
  • -- Louis Santor (Accounting ’89), COO of Village Roadshow Entertainment, which has produced over 85 films since its establishment in 1986 including Joker, The Matrix series, the Sherlock Holmes series, the Ocean’s series, and The Lego Movie.
  • -- David Knoller (Theater ’86), producer, director and writer of television shows, including Carnivale, Power, and Big Love, Freaks and Geeks and Lovecraft Country on HBO.
  • -- Wendy Knoller (Radio/TV Production ’87), who created a highly successful career in post-production, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Friends.

HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

  • Nazarian College's Beta Alpha Psi Chapter achieves international recognition as a "Superior Chapter," a significant accomplishment.
  • Nazarian College's Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter attains "Highest Honors Status," the most prestigious level of recognition a chapter can receive. 

2019-2020 Academic Year

COMPETITIONS

  • CSUN Fast Pitch New Venture Competition
  • -- First Place (tie): Nourish with Leanna Merza, Magdah Al Sinaidi, Anh Nguyen and Christopher Moreno
  • -- First Place (tie): Beegan Bites with Melissa Schwarz, Maya Sparadeo, Devin Dean and Melissa Padilla
  • -- Third Place: Van Robotics with Sean Van Duser, Kyle Keislar, Calvin Castanares, Thomas Parashos and Shahnam Mirzaei
  • Bull Ring Competition
  •  -- Grand Prize: ‘NoSpill’ Tray for delivery drivers with Bretiel Danipour, Jenna Flynn, Tammy Nguyen and Stephanie Villa
  • CFA Institute Research Challenge in Los Angeles Local Competition
  •  -- First Place: Sean Lancaster, Danny Cho, and Seong (Nathan) Yu won first place in the local level CFA IRC and went on to compete in the Americas round in April in New York City
  • CSUN Goldman Sachs Case Competition
  • -- First Place: Nyan Lin, Tony Lund, Faraz Samsani, Joseph Elmajian and Tal Fitlovich
  • -- Second Place: Alexander Zagraychuk, Robert Denam, Evan Burman, Bernardo Calderon, Jonathan Galdamez and Arev Tatarian
  • CSUNPosium
  • -- First Place (showcases excellence in scholarly research and creative activity)
    • Binuri Fonseka - Morning Poster
    • Harrison Handel  - Oral Presentation (Undergraduate)

  • -- Second Place

    • Angelica Leon - Oral Presentation (Undergraduate)
  • Small Business Institute Competition and Conference
    •  -- First Place: Undergraduate Consulting; Students Jenna M. Flynn, Alexander M. Brankovic, Angeline Gomez and Vanessa Arriaza
    •  -- Second Place: Graduate Comprehensive; Students Michelle Gieblar, Patricia Lopez, Valerie Taylor Stoner and Patoo Teamtad

  • International Collegiate Conference Competition—Matador AMA receives multiple awards.

    • -- Third Place: Matador AMA won third place for “Best Recruitment Video.”
    • -- Mariam Boyadjian won a $3,000 AMA EBSCO scholarship, which was given to her based on her leadership of the chapter.
  • Beta Alpha Psi, Epsilon Chi, Regional Best Practices Competition
  • -- First Place: Alec Agana and Humberto Gonzalez win first place in the “Roots” category
  • -- Second Place: Vania Walangare, Anna Hakopian, Kirstin Shost and Richard Maldonado win second place in the “Branches” category
  • -- Both teams were lead by faculty advisor, Professor Anne Wu.

SCHOLARSHIPS

  • More than 150 Nazarian business students received scholarships.

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

  • Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar—Anush Martirosyan was awarded the prestigious scholarship, which is given to undergraduate and graduate accounting students enrolled in accredited U.S. colleges and universities.

CO-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

  • Distinguished Speaker Series (Fall): Bruce Gersh '91, president of People, People En Espanol and Entertainment Weekly. entertainment media executive and California State University, Northridge alumnus.

  • Distinguished Speaker Series (Spring): Paul Dali '67, chair at Holon Solutions and former general manager and chairman of the Marketing Council at Apple

  • Eight MBA Students, with supervision from Professor Franck Vigneron, worked on a project to help launch Emmy award-winning Misha Segal's new organization, The Forbidden Band.

HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

  • CSUN ALPFA Chapter Named West Region Chapter of the Year. Watch the video here.
  • Beta Gamma Sigma Inducts 40 Students:
  • -- Sophomore inductees were Mary Bilbao, Claire Daniels, Elline Dominique Deogracias, Dilini Selena Dodanwalage, Noreen Keh, Jessica Lauren Puzon, and Rahul Soni.
  •  -- Junior inductees were Meri Adamyan, Robert Aghazarian, Khachik Baghumyan, John Alvaro Bulactial, Camila Echeverry, Leila Esmaeili, Seth Fraser, Garegin Gevorgyan, Tejesh Goyal, Burcu Gulagiz, Lerone Herscu, Lilit Hovhannisyan, Lauryn Lawton, Robin Lodge, Patricia Mamac, Adrineh Manasi, Blake Mccormack, Ken Roy Mejes, Chi Nguyen, Marketa Pospechova, David Reynoso, Lorena Rodriguez, Seda Shamirian, and Brooke Yanke.
  • -- Seniors were Shayan Alimohammadi, Amna Altaf, Samantha Cinco, Naoko Kishimizu, Chloe Le-Hill Nguyen, Jake Moreno, Maja Tanna, and Aaron Yonkers.
  •  -- 13 graduate students rounded out the newest cohort of BGS inductees: Masood Chotani, Marina Ivan, Qiujun Kitchner, Lucas Kolding, Anastasia Kramsky, Sonia Le, Patricia Lopez, Geremy Mason, Svetlana Pashazadeh-Monajemi, Sheelah Resnick, Valerie Taylor, Raphael Yoshimura and Ruba Zorob.
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