Yan Jiang named recipient of SUNY’s McConney award

Yan Jiang, a SUNY Fredonia sophomore double major in Public Accountancy and Business Administration-Finance, was one of 52 students from throughout the State University of New York selected to receive the Norman R. McConney Jr. Award for Student Excellence.

Yan is from New York City and graduated from New Utrecht High School. As part of his undergraduate program, he will complete the requirement to earn his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensure. Yan offers a number of different services to students and offices on campus and has been a peer tutor for the EOP for the last three semesters. He is also a recent nominee for the prestigious Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholars Program. 

Award recipients were honored at a ceremony in Troy, NY, on April 18, where SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. noted, “Today, we celebrate the resilience and success of our SUNY EOP students. A student who is the granddaughter of an undocumented immigrant who struggled academically in high school, but today excels with a 3.7 GPA. A student who made it on the dean’s list while helping raise and provide for their siblings. Students who give back to their community to help younger kids have a better life. Each student we celebrate today has shown strength time and time again in pursuit of an education that will open the doors of opportunity and upward mobility.”

The award, also among the highest distinction for students in SUNY, recognizes outstanding Educational Opportunity Program students for their academic excellence and strength in overcoming significant personal obstacles throughout their lives. It is named in memory of Norman R. McConney Jr. (1946-2016), a graduate of the State University at Albany and former Assistant Dean for Special Programs at SUNY. McConney, alongside former New York State Assembly Deputy Speaker Arthur O. Eve, helped create the EOP as a statewide program that has served over 75,000 New Yorkers from underprivileged backgrounds.