Feature Wrapping up the 25-26 Academic Year

Helen Viloria - Baby J
Award-winning senior Helen Viloria revealed in May that she in fact had been spending the 2025-26 year incognito relative to her appearances as the Baby Jay mascot.
Archi Arnob and Dr. Eungsik Kim
At the departmental awards banquet, Archi Arnob was named recipient of the John Ise Graduate Research Excellence Award by Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Eungsik Kim. Dr. Kim also was honored at the event with Economics Department Award for Exemplary Fa
Filing out
Happy members of the Class of 2026 file out as newly minted economists at the Economics Department Graduation Recognition Ceremony held on May 15 at the Kansas Memorial Union.

Economics Awards Banquet and Graduation Recognition Ceremony Conclude 2025-26 Year

 

The Economics Department concluded the 2025-26 academic year in last spring with an awards ceremony and banquet; and with the annual graduation ceremony.  Outgoing Chair Dr. Richard Yi joked that the events marked some of the very few times he could remember wearing a necktie since the COVID pandemic.

At the awards banquet at Maceli’s in downtown Lawrence on May 1, the Department announced that ten undergraduates were being honored with the Carol Drever Pimental Award, a special program funded some years ago via her generosity and in celebration of her remarkable journey.  Ms. Drever Pimental, who hailed from rural northeast Kansas in Marshall County, was blessed to participate in KU’s study abroad program as a junior and studied at the University of Copenhagen.  That experience inspired her to move on and earn a graduate degree in international business and finance that ultimately led to a diverse and wide-ranging career that included the US-Japan Trade Council; the US Treasury Department; and the World Bank.  She established the award to help the KU Economics Department and its students by facilitating additional study-abroad opportunities.

An additional 21 students received Arthur J. Boynton Scholarships and Awards.  A graduate of Harvard, Dr. Boynton was Chair of the KU Economics Department from 1915-1924 and also served in a variety of other roles on campus and around town. He was a founder of the Oread Golf Club in 1908, an institution that constructed a 9-hole course between Mississippi Street and Potter’s Lake.

The prestigious Domenico Gagliardo Award went to graduating senior Khushi Patel.  Dr. Gagliardo was born in Frontenac, Kansas in 1895 as one of ten children to migrant parents.  A veteran of the US military in both World Wars, he earned his undergraduate degree in economics from KU and later his master’s from Harvard and PhD from the University of Chicago. 

Outgoing KU Economics Club Chair Nathan Binshtok was named recipient of the John Ise Award.  Dr. Ise, who also hailed from a large family of 11 children, received multiple degrees from KU and ultimately served as president of the American Economic Association. Two graduate students received the Ise Outstanding Student Instructor Award, Jimin Shin and Syeda Razzak.  A special John Ise Graduate Research Excellence Award also was bestowed on Archi Arnob. The Ise Awards within the last decade were significantly enhanced as a result of the generosity of Corky and Phyllis Nason.  The Nasons both graduated from KU in 1956.

Finally, Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Eungsik Kim was honored with the Economics Department Award for Exemplary Faculty Teaching, acknowledging his outstanding teaching and mentorship over the prior two years.

The Graduation Recognition Ceremony on May 15 was held in the Kansas Memorial Union’s Ballroom.  The Honorary Speaker was Dr. Kegan O’Connor, who received his PhD from KU in 2021. Dr. O’Connor currently works as an applied microeconomist at the USDA Economic Research Service, focusing primarily on the very important area of the Supplemental Food Assistance Program and food access.

He told the graduating students that they should celebrate the value of their economics degrees and encouraged them not to worry about AI somehow taking over for economists in the labor force.

“Thinking like an economist includes utilizing critical thinking skills about choices and decisions we make,” Dr. O’Connor said.  “When you get right down to it, economics is really the study of choices.  And it has applicability to virtually all areas of life.  Keep that in mind and don’t let worries and anxieties about the future rob you of your victories and achievements in acquiring your degrees.”

The designated Class of 2026 Student Speaker, Khushi Patel, graduated with a degree in behavioral neuroscience as well as economics.  She noted in her remarks that while economics often focused on decisions involving rationality, optimality and utility maximization, behavioral neuroscience on the other hand frequently involved observing people not acting necessarily in a rational or optimal manner.  She encouraged the Class of 2026 to remember that “the journey of life is in fact very unpredictable.”

But maybe one of the most intriguing conclusions to the academic year came when graduating senior Helen Viloria (Phi Beta Kappa; Boynton Award; and Graduated with Departmental Honors) at long last waived her cloak of anonymity and revealed that she had in fact been one of several students serving as the Baby Jay mascot.  She told the University Daily Kansan that at one point while her identity was still a secret, she had to tell friends that the reason she was getting up and leaving at 5am so often was because she was training for a half-marathon.  She added that beyond the electricity she always had enjoyed at Allen Fieldhouse during the games, one of her favorite memories was appearing as Baby Jay during ESPN’s College Gameday.