The Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award
Vijay Bhagavan was a graduate student in the Department of Resource Economics from 1992 to 1994 and an undergraduate at UMass before that. He was an outstanding student whose Master's thesis was published as “Concentration Change and Countervailing Power in the U.S. Food Manufacturing Industries” in 1996 by the Review of Industrial Organization. He was known for his generosity, his late nights at the office, and his unflagging good humor.
Vijay is remembered by faculty, his graduate student colleagues, and his undergraduate students for his effervescence and optimism. Times may have been hard, but never so difficult as to stifle his spontaneous roar of laughter or a comment of “No Problem”. After all, despite the petty tribulations of the day, life is good, isn’t it? Vijay traveled the hallways making everyone in his path feel better, providing a sense of perspective and a love of life.
These attributes made him the model Teaching Assistant. Vijay was equally passionate in his love for humanity in general, the New England Patriots, and virtually any individual he came in contact with. Imagine how fortunate the undergraduate, perhaps far from home for the first time, perhaps with troubles of her or his own to deal with, to have Vijay as a teacher. Vijay struggled early as an undergraduate, persevered, and became a model of strength as his confidence matured. He related to his students as individuals, could recognize the special problems they were sometimes having, and would help them both academically and spiritually.
Vijay was the greatest, and so are the Teaching Assistants of Distinction named in his memory. This award is endowed through the generosity of Vijay's parents, Anuradha and V.S. (Manny) Bhagavan, in memory of their beloved son.
Give to the Resource Economics Department in Honor of Vijay Bhagavan
To make a contribution, call the Development Office at 866-450-UMASS or visit www.umass.edu/give. Be sure to designate that your gift is to the Resource Economics Department for the Vijay Bhagavan Memorial Award of Distinction.
(If giving on line, under Gift Allocation, Allocation 1 go to the bottom of the list and click on "Other, enter below." Then enter "Resource Economics Vijay Bhagavan Memorial Award of Distinction Fund.") Thank you!
Donors Who Gave in Honor of Vijay Bhagavan:
Endowment by Mrs. Anuradha and Mr. V.S. (Manny) Bhagavan
Tihomir Andonov and Liliana Botcheva-Andonova
Sylvia Brandt and James Kwak
Glenn and Colleen Caffery
Matthew S. Gershoff and Heather M. Greene
Matthew Gershoff Consulting LLC
Daniel and Libby Lass
L. Joe Moffitt
Richard T. Rogers and Julie A. Caswell
Cleve and Barbara Willis
The Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award Recipients
1998, Juan Camilo Cardenas
1999, Carlos Chavez-Rebolledo
2000, Erin Mastrangelo and Sarah White
2001, Peter Manolakos
2002, Sirisha Naidu
2003, Michael Salemme
2004, Michael Kruzewski
2005, Chunxiang (Lisa) Li >>Spotlight
2006, Hillary Gelardi >>Spotlight
2007, Nikolaos Zirogiannis and Leah Shen 
View Slide Show
2008, Linus Nyiwul View slide show
2009, Brenton Sellati View slide show
2010, Christopher Burns and Bilal Janjua View slide show
2011, Jonathan Farland and Scott Magnoni View slide show
