Class of 2012 Graduation Ceremony
13 May 2012 7:40AM
Duke University held its 160th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday morning, May 13, at Wallace Wade Stadium. Immediately following the main Duke ceremony, the Department of Economics held its Graduation Recognition Ceremony in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This year the Department of Economics recognized 13 graduates with a Ph.D., 57 graduates with a Master of Arts, and approximately 250 graduates with an economics major.
The audience of students, friends and family listened to various speakers at the event. The student speaker was Vivek Bhattacharya, an Angier B. Duke Scholar and double major in economics and physics.
James B. Duke Professor of Economics Craufurd Goodwin was the honorary faculty speaker chosen by Department Chair Patrick Bayer in recognition of his long service to the Department of Economics and Duke. A faculty member since 1962, Goodwin shared some of his experience of how Duke has changed both in his speech and in an interview last week.
Faculty leaders Charles Becker, Connel Fullenkamp, Michelle Connolly, Tracy Falba, Thomas Nechyba and Emma Rasiel helped distribute the many diplomas.
Awards
Special awards were given to students who distinguished themselves among their peers.
The Duke Economics Master’s Program Award for Leadership and Academic Excellence was given to Katherine Donato and Donghee Jo.
The following Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Research allow for recognition of those outstanding students whose work stands out among the 49 honors students this year.
The Best Honors Thesis award was given to Peichun Wang whose thesis was titled “Empirical Evidence of Airline Merger Waves Based on a Selective Entry Model.”
Best Honors Thesis Finalists were Vivek Bhattacharya, Ross Green, Thomas Burr, and Catherine Moon.
The Outstanding Symposium Presentation award was given to Vignesh Nathan.
Outstanding Honors Poster awards were given to Bradford Lightcap and Anthony Peek (1st Place) and to Ching-Ching Chen (2nd Place).
The Department congratulates all graduates in the Class of 2012.
Watch the video of the Dept. of Economics graduation ceremony.