Los Angeles/Fraser Valley – The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) School of Business students’ team won the International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition held in Los Angeles. They secured first place in two of the three categories in the undergraduate division. Thirty-seven teams from twenty-five universities across four continents participated in the competition in various divisions. This included numerous highly acclaimed universities. The UFV School of Business team faced tough competition from the best business schools in the United States, including those from the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Florida, Loyola Marymount University, and George Washington University, amongst others. This is the first time in the UFV School of Business history that a student team participating in an international competition in the United States has triumphed against some of the highest-ranking US business schools.
Chad Charest, Monisha Kingra, Amandeep Rai, and Rebecca Whitmell were the four exceptional seniors majoring in Human Resource Management who comprised the team that made us proud. Dr. Masud Khawaja, Associate Professor, School of Business, was their faculty coach. The success demonstrates the excellence of our HR major program and its students at the UFV School of Business. Preparing for the competition took more than two months and at least 12 to 15 hours every week. During the team’s preparation, Dr. Chris Schinkus, Dean of Business and Computing, Rod Hayward, former Director of the School of Business, and Dr. Carl Janzen, Director of the School of Computing, shared their expertise and provided invaluable recommendations.
At the beginning of the prestigious awards ceremony, it was very evident that the University of the Fraser Valley was unknown to the other participating institutions. Therefore, it was a moment of tremendous pride for the team when the University of Fraser Valley was announced as the winner.
The team certainly brought the spotlight on the institution and established its reputation in a befitting manner amidst accolades from all. Suddenly, the team from an unrecognized Canadian institution had achieved stardom among the top business schools in the United States.
