First-year Students, Transfers Recognized for Making Dean’s List
Image by Ed Brennen
02/14/2020
By Ed Brennen
Manning School of Business Dean Sandra Richtermeyer knows how bewildering life can be as a first-year college student. As a freshman at the University of Wyoming, Richtermeyer once turned in a final paper by sliding it under a supply room door (it was supposed to go under her professor’s door one floor below).
“Making the transition to college and managing all the things that come with it isn’t easy,” Richtermeyer says.
The Manning School recently recognized first-year and transfer students who excelled academically while making that transition during the fall 2019 semester at a Dean’s List reception at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center.
“Your performance, and the grades that you’ve earned, is a big deal. We’re really proud of you,” Richtermeyer told nearly three dozen students (and their family members) who attended the afternoon event.
“There’s a consistent theme here where they involve the parents and the students’ support network. I think that speaks a lot to the school.” -Steven Palmacci Sr.
Out of the Manning School’s 385 first-year students and 206 transfer students, 245 qualified for the Dean’s List with a grade point average of 3.25 or better last fall – an increase of 30 students from a year ago.
Overall, 905 business students made the Dean’s List in fall 2019, compared to 835 a year ago.
In addition to being invited to the Dean’s List reception, all 245 first-year and transfer students will have their names appear on the chandelier stock ticker in the lobby of the Pulichino Tong Business Center.
Alayne Mazzarini, a freshman from Townsend with a concentration in management, attended the reception with her parents, Denise and Bill.
Image by Ed Brennen
“It’s wonderful that they did this and kept the parents involved,” says Denise, who wasn’t surprised to see her daughter on the Dean’s List.
“I had a feeling I was doing well,” Alayne says. “But when I got the Dean’s List notification, I was like, ‘Whoa, hold up.’ I didn’t think I was doing that good.”
Alayne says her transition to college was made easier by the fact that her older brother, Andrew, is a senior music education major in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
“He really helped me through and gave me a lot of information, which was nice,” says Alayne, who lives in Fox Hall. “I’m hoping my second semester goes just as well.”
Steven Palmacci Jr., a freshman commuter student from Melrose with a concentration in management information systems, was pleasantly surprised to get off to a strong academic start in his first semester.
Image by Ed Brennen
“It’s nice to be recognized,” says Palmacci, who attended the reception with his parents, Steven Sr. and Eugenia.
“We’re very proud of him,” says Steven Sr., who has been impressed with UML since visiting for open houses and welcome days.
“There’s a consistent theme here where they involve the parents and the students’ support network,” he says. “I think that speaks a lot to the school, and it just reinforces that he made the right decision to come here.”