Rick Wagoner, president and CEO of General Motors, will be honored as the 2003 Michigan Executive of the Year by the Wayne State University School of Business Administration during its Annual Recognition and Awards Program at 6 p.m., May 1, at the Detroit Marriott - Renaissance Center. It will be Wagoner's first public appearance as chairman and CEO - he has been GM chairman-elect since December and will take over his new post full-time May 1.

James Vandenberghe, vice chairman of Lear Corporation, will be honored that night with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. He received a master's of business administration from WSU in 1976 and is a resident of Grosse Pointe.

Other awardees that night include business school faculty members Catherine Kirchmeyer, associate professor of management, and Richard Beltramini, professor of marketing.

Kirchmeyer will receive the Distinguished Research Award. She has published studies on career management, managing diversity, the relationship between work and nonwork domains, organizational commitment, and organizational politics. She presents each year at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, the premier association of management scholars in the world. She teaches MBA and undergraduate courses in organizational behavior and management theory. She is a resident of Milan, Mich.

Beltramini is receiving the Distinguished Teacher Award. His teaching interests include advertising and marketing management, research and strategy, and his primary research focus is on the believability of marketing communications information. Beltramini has received several national grants and awards for his work, including one from the National Science Foundation. In 2001 he received the School of Business Administration's Distinguished Research Award, making him the first faculty member in the school to receive both the research and teacher awards. He lives in Troy, Mich.

Students also will be honored during the awards program, as the School of Business Administration presents scholarships worth more than $360,000 to nearly 200 students.

For more information about the event, contact Rose Estioco at (313) 993-1385.

For details on sponsorship opportunities, call Marguerite Carlton at (313) 577-9212.