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. The 'Familiy Award' for very good academic performance despite multiple family responsibilities was presented to Carina Paul; the 'Gender Award' for the best thesis with a gender or women's studies topic was presented to Jannika Fritzsche by the Equal Opportunities Officer, Prof. Dr. Elke Raum.
During a ceremony on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, five outstanding graduates or students of the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences (HWG LU) were honored for their special academic achievements by the Association of Friends and Sponsors (VFF) and the University's Equal Opportunity Officer: Roderic Fonteyne, graduate of the dual study program Health Economics in Practice, received the award of the Friends as best Bachelor graduate. Victoria Berger, a graduate of the master's program in International Marketing Management, was honored with the VFF sponsorship award as the best master's graduate. And Finn Börsch, with his highly topical bachelor's thesis on the subject of "CO2 tax with climate dividend", received the sponsoring association's prize for the best bachelor's thesis. Tatjana Kamrad, first chairwoman of the VFF, presented the prizes, each endowed with €500, after an introduction by university president Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller and laudations by Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner and Prof. Dr. Markus Widmann.
The Family Award, endowed with 300 euros, which honors very good students with multiple family responsibilities, went this year to Carina Paul, a student in the bachelor's degree program in nursing education. The mother of two daughters, who also provides family care for her parents and is involved in the Sterntaler children's hospice, was unable to receive the award in person due to illness.
The Gender Award, also endowed with 300 euros and now awarded for the third time at the university, was presented to Jannika Fritzsche, a graduate of the bachelor's degree program in marketing, for her work "LGBTQ+ Marketing: The Effect of Authentic and Target Group-Oriented Addressing" by the Equal Opportunities Officer and laudator Prof. Dr. Elke Raum. The prize, offered as part of the federal and state program for female professors to promote gender equality in science and research at German universities, honors the best thesis with 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 during the welcoming speech. And Tatjana Kamrad, Chairwoman of the Friends and Sponsors Association, was also sure: "The submitted as well as the awarded papers give an insight into which topics move our students and with which passion and expertise 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 course of study: "The dual course of study in health economics in the practice network requires competencies in very different subject areas - 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 deals, roughly speaking, with the specific composition of health insurance contributions, and in his practical work at the dual training partner, Siemens Krankenkasse.
Laudator Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, Dean of the Department of Marketing and Human Resources Management, 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 well versed in her subject matter and methodology," the "phenotype of an excellent university of applied sciences graduate," according to Blettner. And that's despite the fact that Berger, who trained as a media designer in Cologne before graduating and now works at SAP SE, said she never actually wanted to study, but always wanted to work with her hands.
The bachelor thesis "CO2-Steuer mit Klimadividende" (CO2 tax with climate dividend) by Finn Börsch convinced not only the VFF jury and the first examiner, 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 interrelationships and abstract issues of the pricing of greenhouse gas emissions very clearly into clear recommendations for action. In addition, Börsch also takes a look at approaches from Switzerland, Sweden and Canada. "I followed the whole work with great curiosity, a remarkable achievement," Widmann concluded.
With this year's Family Award winner, Carina Paul, the university's Equal Opportunity Committee honored a student in the bachelor's degree program in nursing education who, despite manifold family responsibilities, volunteer commitments and health challenges, completed her studies with very good results. It was this consistent "despite" in her application for the award that also convinced the jury, said Equal Opportunity Officer Prof. Dr. Elke Raum.
Finally, the thesis "LGBTQ+ Marketing: The Effect of Authentic and Target Group-Specific Addressing" by Jannika Fritzsche deals with the topic that companies are also 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? What is the effect of an authentic approach in LGBTQ+ marketing? And: What effect does the approach have on the target group? Fritzsche approached addressing these guiding questions "with distinctive expertise" and a "very well implemented quantitative survey." The work convinced not only the first reviewer, Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, but also the jury.
