Two Business Analytics Students Graduating at Top of College Class

March 26, 2021

Business Analytics and Statistics seniors Lauren Beavers of Cleveland, Tennessee, and Joelle Jarjoura, a Kingsport native, number among the top seven students graduating from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business in the spring 2021 semester.

After graduation, Jarjoura is moving to Chicago to work as a demand planner for Pepsi Beverages. Beavers is weighing her employment options but will pursue a full-time career as a business analyst.

They both say they are grateful and honored to be recognized for the hard work that put them at the apex of their graduating class. They also expressed appreciation for the support of the business analytics faculty and staff and from their classmates.

“The classes I’ve taken in the BAS department have been some of my favorite courses at UT,” Beavers says. “All of my professors have made a great impact on me, and I feel fully prepared to enter the workforce with the skills I’ve gained from my courses.”

Jarjoura says that during her time at Haslam, she learned that business analytics can be applied to countless other disciplines and is truly the language of business. “The Haslam College of Business has prepared me to confidently enter the workforce, and I am beyond grateful for the impact this college and university has had on my life,” she says.

Mike Galbreth, head of the BAS department, says he and the faculty are proud of the pair.

“They epitomize the industriousness and creativity we hope to instill in all of our students,” he says. “We believe they will represent the department and the college well going forward, and we look to great things from them in the future.”

About the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics at UT’s Haslam College of Business

The Department of Business Analytics and Statistics’ mission is to create knowledge through research and to disseminate that knowledge through its degree programs. The faculty uses the results of its application-focused research to educate students on how to affect positive change within organizations by emphasizing soft skills such as communication and team building alongside the targeted and effective use of analytics. The department’s continually evolving curriculum draws upon state-of-the-art theoretical and practical content from the fields of statistics, machine learning and operations research.

CONTACT:

Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu