Roderic Fonteyne, Victoria Berger and Finn Börsch were honored yesterday by the Association of Friends and Sponsors of the University for their outstanding academic achievements. Carina Paul received the 'Family Award' for very good academic achievements despite multiple family responsibilities; the 'Gender Award' for the best thesis on a gender or women's studies topic was presented to Jannika Fritzsche by the Equal Opportunities Officer, Prof. Dr. Elke Raum.
At a ceremony on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, five outstanding graduates and students of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) were honored for their special academic achievements by the Association of Friends and Sponsors (VFF) and the university's Equal Opportunities Officer: Roderic Fonteyne, a graduate of the dual degree programs in Health Economics in Practice, received the prize from the Friends' Association as the best Bachelor's graduate. Victoria Berger, a graduate of the International Marketing Management Master's degree course, was honored with the VFF sponsorship award for best Master's graduate. And Finn Börsch received the Sponsors' Association prize for the best Bachelor's thesis with his highly topical Bachelor's thesis on "CO2 tax with climate dividend". Tatjana Kamrad, first chairwoman of the VFF, presented the €500 prizes from the sponsors' association after an introduction by university president Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller and laudatory speeches by Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner and Prof. Dr. Markus Widmann.
The Family Award, which is endowed with 300 euros and honors very good students with multiple family responsibilities, went this year to Carina Paul, a student on the Bachelor's degree course in Nursing Education. The mother of two daughters, who is also responsible for caring for her parents and is involved in the Sterntaler children's hospice, was unable to receive the award in person due to illness.
Jannika Fritzsche, a graduate of the Bachelor's degree course in Marketing, received the Gender Award, also endowed with 300 euros, for her work "LGBTQ+ Marketing: The effect of authentic and target group-oriented communication" from the Equal Opportunities Officer and laudator Prof. Dr. Elke Raum. The prize, which is awarded as part of the Federal and State Government's Female Professors Program to promote equality between women and men in science and research at German universities, honors the best thesis on a gender or women's studies topic.
"This award ceremony is an important incentive for our students and shows the excellence we have in our ranks," said University President Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller in his welcoming address. And Tatjana Kamrad, Chairwoman of the Friends and Sponsors Association, was also certain: "The submitted and award-winning work gives an insight into the topics that move our students and the passion and expertise with which they work on these topics".
In her laudatory speech for Roderic Fonteyne, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Dean of the Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare, emphasized that his award as the best Bachelor's graduate was even more remarkable in view of his degree program: The dual degree program in Health Economics in Practice requires skills in very different Departments - including medicine, economics or data analysis - and yet Fonteyne was convincing in all areas. According to Häusler, the German Study Foundation scholarship holder also excelled in his bachelor's thesis, entitled "Effect of the regional component as part of the reform of the morbidity-oriented risk structure compensation system using the example of a health insurance company", which roughly speaking deals with the specific composition of health insurance contributions, and in the operational practice at the dual training partner, Siemens Krankenkasse.
Laudator Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, Dean of the Marketing and Human Resources Management Department, was similarly enthusiastic about Victoria Berger as the best Master's graduate. "A student like you rarely find as a university lecturer: Calm when others are loud; committed when others weaken; constructive when others lament." In short, "a practitioner who is absolutely solid both professionally and methodologically", the "phenotype of an excellent university of applied sciences graduate", says Blettner. And this despite the fact that Berger, who trained as a media designer in Cologne before studying and now works at SAP SE, said she never actually wanted to study, but always wanted to work with her hands.
Finn Börsch's bachelor thesis "CO2 tax with climate dividend" also impressed not only the VFF jury and the first assessor, Prof. Dr. Andreas Birk from the Department of Services and Consulting, but also laudator Prof. Dr. Markus Widmann: "This thesis is not only unparalleled in terms of the topicality of the subject and its scope, but also transfers the very complex relationships and abstract issues of pricing greenhouse gas emissions very clearly into clear recommendations for action. Börsch also takes a look at approaches from Switzerland, Sweden and Canada. "I followed the entire work with great curiosity, a remarkable achievement," Widmann concludes.
With this year's winner of the Family Award, Carina Paul, the university's Equal Opportunities Committee honored a student on the Bachelor's degree course in Nursing Education who, despite multiple family responsibilities, voluntary work and health challenges, completed her studies with very good results. It was this consistent "nevertheless" in the application for the prize that convinced the jury, according to Equal Opportunities Officer Prof. Dr. Elke Raum.
Finally, Jannika Fritzsche's thesis "LGBTQ+ Marketing: The effect of authentic and target group-specific communication" deals with the topic of how companies are increasingly targeting the LGBTQ+ community in mainstream media. According to laudator Raum, Fritzsche was guided by three research questions: How does LGBTQ+ marketing affect the community and straight allies? How does an authentic approach work in LGBTQ+ marketing? And: How does the approach affect the target group? Fritzsche approached these key questions "with a high level of expertise" and a "very well implemented quantitative survey". The work not only convinced the first assessor, Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, but also the jury.
