2019-2020 Stophel Distinguished Students
The Rollins College of Business John C. Stophel Distinguished Student Award is presented annually to recognize high potential business students who have made significant and meaningful civic contributions to UTC and the Rollins College of Business while maintaining a strong academic record.
Students must provide evidence of exceptional extracurricular leadership and community service. Community engagement evidenced by a pattern of strong contributions to the Rollins College of Business, UTC, or civic organizations is highly valued, as well as activities resulting in lasting impact and quantifiable results. Award recipients must be an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Business.
Below are the 2019-2020 John C. Stophel Distinguished Students.
Katelyn Alexander
Katelyn is a senior in the Rollins College of Business and will be graduating in December with a degree in Accounting. She is from Chickamauga, GA. Katelyn was chosen as the 2017 recipient of Komatsu Chattanooga's Ochi Full Academic Scholarship.
During her time at UTC, Katleyn has found many ways to become involved in campus life. Her freshman year, she was a member of the Business Living Learning Community residential learning program for high achieving freshmen business students and was recognized with the Outstanding Leadership award for the 2017-2018 cohort. She went on to peer mentor the program for the 2018-2019 cohort and has continued mentoring as the group transitions into the Rollins Scholars four-year program. Katelyn has served as a student ambassador through the Dean's Student Advisory Council for three years. She has held accounting internships at JD Frost & Associates and the Vincit Group and has accepted a summer audit internship at Elliot Davis. Currently, Katelyn is a member of Beta Alpha Psi and treasurer for IMA. She represented the Rollins College of Business at TVA's 2019 case competition in Huntsville, AL and attended both the IMA's Student Leadership Conference and Elliott Davis' Student Leadership Conference.
After graduation, Katelyn intends to work on obtaining the MAcc while studying for both the CPA and the CMA. She wants to stay in Chattanooga, Where she will pursue a career in public accounting.
Jordan Camp
Jordan is a junior within the Rollins College of Business majoring in Finance and minoring in Economics. He is from Dunlap, TN. Jordan began his UTC career with the Business Living Learning Community. Through this program, he was able to obtain an internship at Unum Group and became the first freshman age student hired in company history. Following his freshman year, Jordan decided to give back to the Business LLC, becoming one of two mentors for the program. Jordan is continuing to mentor the now rebranded Rollins Scholars until graduation. He also serves as the president of the Dean's Student Advisory Council for the Rollins College of Business and was formerly a lead analyst for the SMILE Fund and the treasurer for the Society of Advancement of Management. Alongside his other experiences with the RCOB, Jordan has also represented the college in the TVA Case Competition in Huntsville, AL and was chosen as the RCOB Mocs of UTC in April of 2018.
Jordan states, "My experience at UTC has jump-started my career and through this, I wish to give back to the university and college that has given me so much. Over the course of my 3 years as a mentor, I will have directly mentored and assisted in fostering 60 RCOB students' careers." He points to this as one of his most proud achievements from his UTC career.
Morgan Kazerooni
Morgan is currently a senior in the Rollins College of Business. She plans to graduate in May with a dual degree in Accounting and Finance.
In her time at UTC, she has been a varsity member of the Women's Softball team, and she is involved in the Chattanooga community with various organizations. She is one of the softball representatives on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, where she strives to improve the experience for athletes at UTC. With SAAC, she has been a part of the Mentoring Mocs program at Clifton Hills Elementary. She is a member of Beta Alpha Psi. This club allows her to tutor Rollins College of Business students in Accounting I and II. She has also worked for the management department with tutoring statistics students in 2018. She has had the opportunity to volunteer with the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, helping with the VITA tax program. She was awarded the Henderson, Hutcherson & McCullough Award in 2018, the Forensic Accounting Scholarship, and APICS Business Scholarship in 2019. She is currently interning at Henderson, Hutcherson & McCullough accounting firm in downtown Chattanooga.
After graduating in May, she will start studying for the CPA exam. In August, she will begin working as an Audit Associate for KPMG in Atlanta.
Mia Myers
Mia is a senior in the Rollins College of Business from Maryville, TN. She plans to graduate in May 2020 with a dual degree in Business Management and Human Resources Management.
While at UTC, Mia has been heavily involved in scholastic clubs. Most notable is her involvement in UTC's Society for Human Resource Management, where she currently serves as chapter President. She is also an Innovations in Honors scholar within the Honors College, having served as Vice President of Honors Council in the past, and a member of the RCOB Dean's Student Advisory Council. Currently, Mia is completing an undergraduate thesis examining the similarities in working adults' use of job crafting, a form of employee-initiated job design. During her senior year, Mia held an internship with Bellhops, a Chattanooga-based moving company, as a Talent Acquisition Associate, and she currently serves as the Chattanooga Society for Human Resource Management's Chapter Administrator.
Future plans for Mia include sitting for the SHRM-CP exam and pursuing an MBA after a few years of work experience in recruiting and talent development.
Elena Nourabadi
Elena is a senior in the Rollins College of Business, graduating in May 2020 with a degree in marketing. She was born in Iran and adopted by remarkable Persian parents who then brought her to America and raised her in Nashville, TN.
In her time at UTC, Elena has been involved in a wide variety of organizations on campus, finding a place where her passions and skills could be combined and used best. She was treasurer of the Freshman Senate and the year following was on the marketing and communications team of the Student Government Association. During this time, she was also a research assistant for Dr. James Tucker, the McKee Chair of Excellence for the Psychology graduate program, before studying abroad in Thailand in Fall of 2018. She was also a part of the Honors College Council and Honors College Diversity Council. She joined the co-ed service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and was the Vice President Fellowship in 2018. She is also a member of the business honors society, Beta Gamma Sigma.
She has spent her senior year interning at WUTC, UTC and Chattanooga's local NPR radio station, doing rewarding media and marketing work that has come to shape her future. Combining her passions of music and marketing, she hopes to carry on what she learns here into a career within the entertainment marketing industry.
Myranda Westbrook
Myranda is currently a senior in the Rollins College of Business graduating in December 2020. She will graduate with a degree in Business Analytics. She is from Chattanooga, TN.
While attending UTC, Myranda has been provided the chance to experience international business through studying abroad with the Rollins College of Business in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Cape Town, South Africa. She was also able to conduct geological and biological research in San Salvador Island, Bahamas with the Honors College. She has participated in the RCOB Solutions Scholars program where she was able to work hands-on with start-ups and small organizations in the Chattanooga area to provide marketing research, strategy development and implementation, while developing the foundations of consultative practices. Myranda is currently working on her departmental thesis on the global implication of big data as facial recognition is concerned.
Myranda currently works as a financial services intern at Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in their Commercial Energy Solutions group working with Interruptible Power. In this role she has been able to participate in R programming and Python analytics training courses. Throughout her time in college, Myranda has worked as a chemistry intern for Doble Engineering Company in Indianapolis and as a student research fellow for Dr. Samuels in the UTC history department. After graduation, Myranda hopes to work in data analytics in a greater capacity.