All posts by Ashley O'Keefe

On The Hill

Outstanding Students Recognized at Academic Awards Ceremony

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BY ERICA MILOSH

On April 19th, students, friends, parents, and professors gathered in Daniels Auditorium to celebrate the Academic Awards Ceremony. Professor Luanne Westerling started with a speech welcoming everyone present and expressing pride for the award-winning students.

The first awards presented were the Edwin L. Hubbard Faculty Scholarships granted to Haroutiun Christopher Sarkisian and Karen Velasco. Following were several department awards and scholarships. Erica Milosh received the English Department award for exceptional contributions to the English Department. Lindsay O’Connell received the Mathematics Department award for excellence in Mathematics.

Professor Armstrong presented the Accounting scholarships. Steven Moutsoulas was awarded the Massachusetts Association of Accountants Scholarship, Raymond Pelter was awarded with the John F. Birch Memorial award, and Martin F. Fletcher received the Class of ’55 John Katori Endowed Scholarship.

Many other honors were granted to students such as the Daniel L. Van Leuvan Memorial Scholarship for education to Zachary Walker. Dr. Gil-Vasquez awarded the Professor Keith Corkum Endowed Scholarships in Economics to Thomas Horner and Matthew Marcantonio. She noted that these two men should be proud considering how difficult it is to love Economics.

The James L. Dunbar Endowed Scholarship in Criminal Justice Management and the ASIS Conference Scholarships were awarded to four students; Stephen Chlapowski, Michael Cutrer, Megan Faulkner, and Carmen Garcia. The James C. Gahan IV Endowed Scholarship was received by Alexandra Vojtila.

Dr. Kellie Deys then presented the Honors Scholar Certificates to twenty-four seniors. These honors students have maintained a 3.2 or above GPA throughout their college experience and have completed seven special honors courses.

Director of the Academic Resource Center, Marissa Loon, presented the Academic Peer Tutor Certifications to 26 student tutors. Level one certifications were awarded to thirteen students and ten students received level two certifications. The level three certification was given to Ben Davis, Jamie Miglionico, and Katelyn Tupaj.

The First-Year PDS Teaching Assistant Award was accepted by Amber Tariq for her bright and positive teaching style and constant availability to students in the course. Following was the presentation of the Peregrine Business Examination Certificates for outstanding scores on the exam. The certificates were awarded to Ben Davis, Cory Forrest Grenon, and Aimee Maldonado.

Professor Paul Lambert inducted four students into the Phi Alpha Theta national honor society for high student achievement in the study of history. The latest inductees were Matthew Campbell, Jacob Foley, Brendan Martin, Riley Tebbetts.

After all the accolades had been awarded to each deserving student, Professor Westerling closed the ceremony with final congratulatory remarks and welcomed the attendees to stay, mingle, and enjoy some refreshments.

Congratulations to all award recipients and honor society inductees!

On The Hill

Battle of the Chefs challenge brings unique cuisine to campus

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BY ERICA MILOSH

On April 6th, Nichols College hosted the 4th annual Battle of the Chefs competition in Lombard dining hall. This pro chef throw down was sponsored by Sodexo. Nichols College, Assumption College, Framingham State University (FSU), University of Bridgeport, and University of New Haven (UNH) each had at least one chef representing their campus.

Three teams were formed for the competition and a required protein was chosen for each team. Chef Bob Andersen of Nichols College was partnered with a chef from FSU. Together they created a grilled marinated squid with fire roasted heirloom tomatoes. University of Bridgeport worked with UNH to cook up Cajun bacon gator meatballs with cilantro garlic aioli and Cajun fried plantains. Nichols executive chef Michael Heenan was partnered with Assumption College and produced ostrich chimichangas with pico Spanish rice and queso blanco.

Nichols students were a little skeptical about the strange entrees, but with the help of emcees PJ Boggio, Janet Newman, and Nora Cavic, most students were convinced to try the exotic food. The announcers kept the dining hall involved in the lunchtime competition by cracking jokes and telling fun facts about food.

“What is a chefs favorite HBO show?” asked PJ. “Game of Scones!”

After students and faculty tried all of the dishes, their votes were submitted and counted at the end of lunch. Early on in the competition it was clear that the dining hall favorites were the ostrich chimichangas and gator meatballs.

All three dishes were tasty, but there was a clear winner. The squid was seasoned perfectly, but I didn’t much care for the green tomato. The gator meatball was decent, but the aioli and plantains were really the best part of that dish. I liked everything about the ostrich chimichanga; although the meat was a tad gamey it worked well in the burrito and the rice and queso added great complementary flavors.

After the votes had been counted, Nichols College’s Michael Heenan and his partner Mitchell Pino of Assumption College were deemed the winners of the cook-off for their delicious ostrich chimichangas with pico Spanish rice and queso blanco.

Resident Dining Manager, Laura Luna, explained that this year the teams are comprised of professional chefs from surrounding colleges. In the past, the competition has featured solely student teams or teams that match up professionals with students. The participants and pairings vary from year to year.

The winners of this year’s competition were awarded a trophy and bragging rights.

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On The Hill

Nichols HR Students Experience MAPFRE’s New HireVue Interview Tool

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BY ERICA MILOSH

Nichols College human resource management students recently got an inside look at an innovative online interview tool created to help individuals find jobs.

On March 22, Nichols Board of Advisors member and MAPFRE Talent Acquisition Project Consultant Jackie McGravey and MAPFRE Recruiter Dave Maglione presented the HireVue tool to approximately 30 students. The presentation was held in the College’s new academic building, which features state-of-the-art technology in classrooms.

HireVue uses a digital interviewing process that makes selecting the right candidate for a job easier and more efficient. The program is appealing to not only Nichols students, but also college graduates everywhere because it allows them to complete numerous interviews anytime and anywhere.

McGravey and Maglione demonstrated how to use HireVue by walking students through the online process and using volunteers from the class. They explained that MAPFRE, a Webster, Mass.-based insurance company, has adopted this method of interviewing because it allows them to meet candidates who live farther away and they can get a better feel for a prospective employee through a camera rather than on paper. It also saves time. Instead of scheduling dozens of interviews and taking the time to meet each candidate, MAPFRE can review the videos and make quicker decisions, which is vital for a large global company.

Olivia Barrett, a senior human resource management and general business major; and Tim Born, a sophomore human resource management major, volunteered to interview through HireVue. They found that the system allows candidates to rerecord their answers if they made a mistake the first time. The volunteers and audience had fun learning how to record their responses and explore HireVue’s options.

Sophomore general business major Aaron Perry also decided to try HireVue, following Barrett and Born. Perry voiced his skepticism toward this system; he saw the tool as impersonal and would defeat the purpose of interaction during an interview. He said watching himself be recorded was uncomfortable and made him lose his train of thought.

McGravey and Maglione assured Perry and his classmates that HireVue is mostly used as a filtering system to weed out unqualified candidates. They do not expect perfect interviews, they explained, and an in-person consultation would always follow a decent HireVue interview.