Student Research

Students take picture with their awards

WOWED! in the College of Business

The WOWED! (Written Projects or Works of Excellence and Distinction) Program in Business was created to recognize students who have created the “best of the best” written individual and group projects/works/papers each semester, under the guidance of a faculty member on a class assignment.

This program was inaugurated in 2019 under the auspices of then Dean Antoinette Phillips. The WOWED! Program is under the direction of WOWED! founder, Dr. David C. Wyld, Merritt Professor of Management. It was established in an effort to advance the College of Business’ Learning Goal in regards to continually working to improve our students’ written communication skills. In 2022, under the leadership of Dean Tara' Lopez and the MBA Director, Dr. Jen Morgan, the WOWED program was expanded to have a second program and ceremony, MBA WOWED!, to honor the best “best of the best” written individual and group projects/works/papers done each semester by graduate students in the College of Business as well. In addition to Dr. Wyld, the program now has an assistant director, Dr. Scott Burns, Assistant Professor of Business Administration.

The WOWED! Program starts as professors in the College of Business nominate students for their written works that they believe exemplifies the excellence that all College of Business students should strive for in demonstrating their written communication skills. The students selected for the WOWED! Program each semester were judged to be the “best of the best” not only in their respective classes, but, in competition, with students from all courses taught across the College of Business, to meet this standard of excellence by the WOWED! review committee. At the WOWED! ceremonies to close each semester, the students share their works in brief presentations to faculty, to peers, and with family and friends who are invited to see their students receive this prestigious award from the College of Business. The lasting value of WOWED! is that the projects, papers, and other written works judged worthy of this award each semester have a lasting impact on current and future students in the College of Business, as they will are featured on a student resource site in Moodle as examples for students to follow in preparing hiqh-quality and highly effective written works.

Over the three years of the WOWED! Program’s existence, over thirty students have earned a WOWED! Award. And now, with the addition of the MBA WOWED! to the program, the College of Business will not only be able to recognize and honor our current undergraduate and graduate students best written works, but have these WOWED! Award-winning papers and projects serve as exemplars for current and future students to follow - and to aspire to equal - in their own writing and research. In doing so, the WOWED! Program plays an important, ongoing role in fostering better and more effective written communication skills among all students in Southeastern’s College of Business!

For more information on the WOWED! Program, please contact Dr. David Wyld (david.Wyld@southeastern.edu) or Dr. Scott Burns (scott.burns@southeastern.edu).