As the 2025-26 academic year draws to a close, the PhD program at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business distributed awards to many of its students during the PhD Awards Celebration. The event, a combination of two awards events which were held separately in the past, took place on Thursday, April 9th in Mervis Hall.
“Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week was the obvious week to hold this new event,” says Jason Wagner, director of the PhD Program. “The PhD Awards Celebration will be held annually to celebrate the achievements of our PhD student community.”
Sheth Awards
The Sheth Family Foundation awards fellowships to doctoral students that have passed their comprehensive exams. Sponsored by alumnus Jagdish Sheth, the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at Emory University, and his wife, Madhuri Sheth, each student received $1,000.
Those recipients are:
- Asmaa Alkanderi
- Denise Bergdolt
- Cagla Celik
- Houye Fan
- Yifang He
- Marc Phoon
- Ronish Shrestha
- Yujie Yan
A handful of other awards were given at the event:
Andrea Everard Endowed Fund Award
- Rachael Hu
- Shuqing Liu
Arjang A. Assad Doctoral Student Award
- Katharina Lohmann
Carrie Woods Doctoral Fund Award (awarded for the first time)
- Jiarui Liu
Inman Family Endowed Fund Award
- Yifang He
Jacob Birnberg Recognition Fund Award
- Spencer Vogrinec
Robert N. Perloff Doctoral Student Award
- Samuel Allen
- Denise Bergdolt
- Cagla Celik