Klaudia Fisheku Named Lutgert Graduate Student of the Year 2021

April 27, 2021 / Lutgert News / Tags: Graduate Student of the Year, Information Systems & Analytics, 2021, Award, Graduate

Each spring the Lutgert College of Business honors one outstanding graduate student from among its four masters programs. The Graduate Student of the Year Award recognizes overall excellence in leadership, scholarship, and service to the university and to the community. This year’s honor goes to Klaudia Fisheku, a Master’s in Information Systems & Analytics candidate who will graduate in May.

She possesses a rare balance of poise, humility, candor, and affability, coupled with just the right levels of assertiveness and urgency, intelligence and determination. These traits combine to make Klaudia a natural leader.

“Klaudia’s enthusiasm for my class, leadership among her peers, and her purposeful focus on getting the most out of the courses was exemplary,” Lutgert faculty member Peter Meso said, who taught two of the graduate courses in Fisheku’s masters program. “Her ability to elevate the nature of discussions in either course, and her in-depth contributions as she shared with her fellow learners examples of the professional/lived experiences relating to the subject matter that she had encountered, immeasurably enhanced the quality of the course for all participants therein.”

“I quickly noticed, and greatly appreciated the fact that she expects rather high standards from team-members and was successful at getting them to aim at, and eventually deliver, the highest quality work that they could produce as a team,” adds Meso.

A self-described lifelong learner, Fisheku mentors current FGCU business majors and Honors College students with advice about pursuing a STEM career, actively engages in four professional networking groups, and was the lead author on a publication presented at an Information Systems Conference in Orlando before the pandemic. Another publication with FGCU faculty member Fan Zhao is in process. In keeping with her dream of earning two master’s degrees, Fisheku has already enrolled in Lutgert’s MBA program and will start classes in August.

Fisheku earned her BS in Computer Information Systems from the Lutgert College of Business in May 2019 and was immediately hired by Arthrex, Inc. She continues to work for Arthrex full-time while pursuing her graduate education at night.

“Klaudia is an extraordinary person,” said Klaudia’s colleague, Alfred Solar, Senior Manager of the Enterprise Architecture group at Arthrex. “She possesses a rare balance of poise, humility, candor, and affability, coupled with just the right levels of assertiveness and urgency, intelligence and determination. These traits combine to make Klaudia a natural leader.”

When nominated for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Fisheku shared that she and her family emigrated from Albania seventeen years ago. “When I first moved to the United States, I did not speak a word of English and adapting to the new culture was definitely the biggest challenge,” she says. “However, through perseverance and motivation, I achieved and surpassed my goals.”

“Although juggling being on campus three nights of the week, and focusing on an amazing career is not the easiest task,” she adds, “I am grateful for this adventure.”