Recognizing the Class of 2020!

• Samuel Coniglio
  
  
• Jorel Cunningham Page
  
  
• Cristina Czach
  
  
• Joseph DiPirro 
  
  
• Taynisha Jacobs 
  
  
• YuJing Weng
  
  
• Xiaolu Xu

Asian Studies major Samuel Coniglio will be joining the prestigious Japanese Exchange and Teaching, or JET, Program.  Sam is the first UB student to be accepted to the JET Program, and we are extremely proud of him.  Established by the Japanese government in 1977, the JET Program employs native English-speaking foreigners in Japanese schools as assistant language teachers for one to five years.  Competition is fierce with only one in five American applicants accepted each year.  After serving his term in Japan, Sam will be part of an active global community of JET alumni that includes people working at the highest levels of U.S.-Japan relations.

Taynisha Jacobs received this year’s Dean’s Outstanding Senior Award for Asian Studies.  This Award recognizes students based on a comprehensive review of student achievement that weighs the student’s engagement in campus, community, and classroom activities in addition to GPA.  Taynisha’s overall academic excellence earned her election to Phi Beta Kappa.  Through the Asian Studies major, she developed a superb understanding of Korean language and culture as well as Japanese literature and Chinese history.  Taynisha’s senior thesis examined racial discrimination in the globally popular Korean music industry.  She gave back to the University by volunteering for research into Korean language learning and by raising over seven thousand dollars for the University from alumni.