Four CBA Students Receive Awards at Student Honors Convocation

Four outstanding CBA Students are receiving special awards at the 2024 Student Honors Convocation. They are Kellie Lindsay, Flopateer Habib, Aolani Mickles, and Matt Miller.

HELEN HANSEN OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

Kellie Lindsay is being honored with the Helen Hansen Outstanding Graduate Student Award. She is the first CBA student to receive this award. This award is given to graduate students who have completed at least 18 hours of graduate work, have demonstrated excellence in performance, and have been admitted for candidacy with a grade point average of 3.75 and above.

Kellie Lindsay will receive her Master of Arts in Economics in May. Throughout her graduate studies, she served as a graduate research assistant at the Koraleski Commerce and Applied Behavioral Laboratory (CAB Lab) complemented by certificates in Economic Analysis and International Financial Economics.

This fall, Kellie will enter the University of Michigan as part of its 2024 Economics Ph.D. cohort. She has received the Horace and Kate King Wu Graduate Economics Scholarship for two consecutive years and was recognized as the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Economics Student by the Department of Economics. Additionally, the College of Business Administration honored her as the Outstanding Graduate Assistant. Kellie won a $5,000 grant from the Graduate Research and Creative Activity Fund for one of her research projects in the CAB Lab. Her recent research paper, "Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder," coauthored with Drs. Ben Smith and Dusty White, has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Kellie's master's thesis focuses on Temporal Dynamics of Emotion: Biometric Insights into Decision-Making Under Uncertainty, and she is conducting this experimental research using biometric technologies in the CAB Lab. Kellie's research spans experimental, behavioral, labor, and health economics, focusing on decision-making biases and discrimination. Outside of her academic pursuits, she enjoys teaching and practicing yoga and meditation, playing the saxophone, reading, and outdoor adventures.

CHANCELLOR’S AWARD FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Flopateer (Filo) Habib is being honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence. This Award is given based on a combination of outstanding scholastic achievement and demonstrated leadership on campus and in the community. The recipient is selected from the Deans’ Award recipients. Habib received the Outstanding Student Award for the College of Business Administration in the undergraduate concentrations of Legal Studies and Management & Leadership.

Flopateer (Filo) Habib is graduating with a degree in Business Administration with concentrations in legal studies, human resources, and management. He has held leadership roles in several organizations including Delta Chi and Dance Marathon. He is a member of the CBA Scholars Academy and has completed two study-abroad programs (France and Slovenia). At UNO, he conducted legal research on worker classification in the platform economy. Filo completed internships with Union Pacific, Fiserv, Capital One, and Walt Disney Corporate working in environmental compliance, global mobility, and product management.

He has maintained a 4.0 GPA during his entire collegiate career. He has received numerous awards and has been inducted into several honor societies including; Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, John M. Baker Pre-Law Award, UNO Regents, Herb Sklenar Scholar, National Elks Scholar (Top 20 in the Nation), and the Underserved Law Opportunities Program.

Filo interned with Union Pacific as an Environmental Compliance intern during his freshman year. He then interned at Fiserv Solutions as a Global Mobility Intern, managing all internal domestic relocations. He went on to intern for one year as a Global Mobility Intern for The Walt Disney Company, helping manage all international business travel compliance. He also spent time interning at Capital One in Washington, DC as an Associate Relations Product Management Intern. For his Legal Studies thesis, he conducted semester-long research under Professor Destynie Sewell on the misclassification of gig economy workers (employee vs independent contractor) and potential overhauls to the binary worker classification system in the US.

Filo thanks his family for their continuous support, especially acknowledging his parents for the sacrifices they made in immigrating his family to Nebraska when he was a child. Upon graduation, he will work as an analyst for Capital One in Washington, D.C. before attending law school down the road.

CHANCELLOR'S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING STUDENT LEADERSHIP

Aolani (Loni) Mickles will graduate this May with a business administration degree, with a concentration in social entrepreneurship, and a minor in Spanish. She was a resident assistant on Dodge Campus, which highlighted her leadership abilities and strong interpersonal skills.

Mickles has participated in organizations like UNO’s Habitat for Humanity Chapter, Chi Alpha Student Ministries, SAVE, and more. Her future aspirations include pursuing a master’s degree in social work and continuously sharing the Good News to encourage and uplift others as well as to serve her community.

OUTSTANDING STUDENT ATHLETE AWARD

The Outstanding Student Athlete Award is presented to one male and one female student athlete. Honorees are also selected on the basis of academic and athletic achievement, in addition to their contributions to the university and the community.

Matt Miller is a senior from Leo, Indiana, and will graduate from the College of Business Administration this May. With a concentration in entrepreneurship, he has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his four years at UNO. He was also a member of the UNO Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO club), Maverick Leadership Academy, and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He has also been a four-year member of the UNO Mavericks Division I Hockey team, and the past two seasons he has been an alternate captain for the team.