Bateman Awards Celebrate Outstanding Students, Professor and Organization

PROVO, Utah – Apr 18, 2013 – Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management honored the winners of the 2013 Bateman Awards, the only school-wide awards selected exclusively by students.

The winners include Phillip Beard, a junior strategy major from Vienna, Va., as the Outstanding Undergraduate Student; Katherine Poulter, a first-year MISM from Farmington, Utah, as the Outstanding Graduate Student; Melissa Larson, professor of accountancy, as the Student Choice Award winner; and the Women in Business club as the Outstanding Student Organization.

“The purpose of BYU is to prepare people to go out into the world and become anchors,” Merrill J. Bateman said during the award ceremony. “Marriott School students and graduates fulfill that mission.”

Two students are presented annually with the Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Awards for serving within the Marriott School and the community. The Student Choice Award honors a member of the faculty, staff or administration who demonstrates exceptional efforts to enhance students' experiences. Created in 2011, the Student Organization Award recognizes a successful student club or organization.

Beard received the Undergraduate Student Award for leading by example through hard work, honesty and dedication to his classmates. He spent the summer of 2012 with PricewaterhouseCoopers and is pursuing a career in finance after graduation. He hopes to one day create a school for underprivileged children in Washington, D.C.

Poulter was honored for her leadership and involvement in the school. She is a participant in Phi Cappa Phi, Phi Eta Sigma, Beta Gamma Sigma and the Women in Business club. She has interned with Apple and Wal-Mart, and plans to work for Apple after earning a master’s degree in information systems.

Larson, who teaches upper-level accounting classes, received the Outstanding Faculty Award for her exemplary personal and professional example to students. She received her master’s degree in accounting from BYU in 1998 and has taught at her alma mater for the past 11 years.

The Women in Business club provides interaction with female professionals and recently co-sponsored the Major Shopping event. The club has developed significantly, growing from 21 members in the fall of 2011 to more than 240 members today.

The closing banquet also featured keynote speaker Greg McKeown, a BYU alum, best-selling author and frequent Harvard Business Review contributor. McKeown spoke about selecting a single priority in life as a step to becoming a great leader. Robert Carroll, Marriott School student council president, spoke to the recipients and thanked them for their devotion to the school.

“President Bateman was a great example of leadership and ethics in business,” Carroll said. “Students, faculty and clubs are recognized each year as examples that demonstrate his qualities.”

The Bateman Awards were created in 2002 in honor of Merrill J. Bateman, who served as president of BYU from 1996 to 2003 and as dean of the BYU School of Management from 1975 to 1979. He has held several prominent positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and president of the Provo Utah Temple from 2007 to 2010.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.