After a two-year compulsory Corona break, six outstanding theses were awarded the "Wagner Family Prize" 2020/2021 and 2022/2023 at a ceremony on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences. The award-winning theses took into account the ethical-social perspective of the respective ethical-social perspective of the respective issue and focused on the human being. For the graduating class of 2020/2021, Sebastian Winkler, Laura Thalhammer and Marc Daniel Kretzer received awards; for the class of 2022/2023, Hanna Sziel, Julia Piechatzek and Simon Froschhäuser received this year's Each received a prize of 3,000 euros from the donor, Dr. Dieter Wagner, and his family.
Since 2014 - with a two-year Corona break - the Wagner Family Sponsorship Award has been presented at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences: With this award, the donor family around the long-standing chairman of the university council and honorary senator Dr. Dieter Wagner honors bachelor's and master's theses that deal with values and ethical-social behavior in social contexts in a scientifically sound manner. The award once again highlights the broad spectrum of socially relevant topics that are addressed at the university at the interface of economics, social sciences and health sciences. On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the "Wagner Family Award", endowed with a total of 3,000 euros each, was awarded twice this year during a ceremony hosted by the Department of Services & Consulting:
The first prize for the class of 2020/2021, endowed with 1,500 euros, was awarded to Sebastian Winkler, a graduate of the master's program in Care Management in Healthcare (HCM), for his master's thesis on "Patient autonomy at the end of life - an analysis of Internet offers for living wills." Second place, awarded with 1,000 euros, went to Laura Thalhammer, a graduate of the master's program in Controlling, with her thesis "Text mining for the analysis of sustainability reporting, in which she examined the sustainability reports of DAX30 companies (as of 2019) for truthfulness and transparency using an automated text analysis procedure. Third prize, and with it 500 euros, was awarded to the thesis of Marc Daniel Kretzer, a graduate of the Master's program in Fundraising Management and Philanthropy. It is entitled "Fundraising and Leadership. Job satisfaction, institutional readiness and intra-organizational influence of fundraisers".
For the class of 2022/2023, Hanna Sziel won the first prize, also endowed with 1,500 euros. In her thesis, the graduate of the bachelor's program in social work focused on the "Discourse on non-invasive blood tests for trisomies" and discussed the need for psychosocial counseling before, during and after prenatal diagnostics. Second place with 1,000 euros in prize money went to Julia Piechatzek, a graduate in the master's program in controlling, with her master's thesis "The transformation of the working world: hybrid working as a decisive competitive advantage and the resulting transformative leadership culture." Finally, the third prize of 500 euros for the class of 2022/2023 was awarded to Simon Froschhäuser, a graduate of the MBA program Digital Finance, Strategy & Accounting with his thesis on "Intuition as a conscious decision in asset management - concepts of subjective probability in asset management."
"For academic educational institutions like Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, students who have excelled in their studies are a very special treasure. For us, what counts here is the success of each individual. If they then also crown their studies with an outstanding thesis, this is a reason for special joy," emphasized University President Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller in his welcoming speech. "For my family and me, the ethical-social component, the focus on people, is an important part of every course of study and an indispensable foundation for later professional activity. The COVID-19 pandemic and other current challenges have once again confirmed us in this view," said Dr. Dieter Wagner, Chairman of the University Council and Honorary Senator of the University, explaining the motivation of the Wagner family of donors. At the same time, he said, the announcement naturally also shows the recognition of the outstanding achievements of the students and their attachment to Ludwigshafen University.
Prof. Dr. Elke Raum and Prof. Dr. Andrea Rein represented the eight-member jury in recognizing the award winners. This year's jury also included Dr. Günter Geisthardt, Prof. Dr. Harry Müller, Dieter Ott, Dr. Dieter Wagner and students Maurice Fuchs and Josephine Nolde-Zilhao.
Vivian Kürbis and Maurice Schatral provided the musical program.
After the farewell by Prof. Dr. Birgit Angermayer, Dean of the host department of services & Consulting, the ceremony ended with a get-together with drinks and finger food.
The "Wagner Family Award" is now once again awarded annually and is aimed at graduates from all four departments at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences.
