Roger Lin (MS 2015) and Angela Liu (MS 2017) knew Phil Beaver was the right person for their special day
Being invited to the wedding was special.
Changing the date so he could attend was a big deal.
But being asked to officiate the marriage ceremony between two of his former students was almost too much for Phil Beaver to describe.
“I’ve had a lot of great, great honors as the director of this program,” said Beaver, who leads the Daniels College of Business master’s in business analytics, “but I think this has to top it. This is probably the greatest honor I’ve had as the program director here. I’m still on high from it because it was so mind-blowing.”
Standing in front of 300 people in Taiwan last December, wearing a candy-striped crimson and gold tie, Beaver pronounced Roger Lin (MS 2015) and Angela Liu (MS 2017) husband and wife.
“I thought it would be significantly meaningful if he could present at the wedding—just kind of like a full cycle,” Lin said. “He was the one who introduced us to meet and he was the person that would see through our wedding.”
Before they matched in love, Lin and Liu were matched through a graduate mentorship program in the Department of Business Information and Analytics. Liu was an incoming student; Lin, a recent alumnus. Both were from Taiwan, and both were stellar students.
They got to know each other gradually, checking in monthly to talk school and careers. But things didn’t take a romantic turn until years later, as Lin prepared to leave Denver to take a job overseas.
“It was like, ‘Oh no! My good friend is about to leave. I need to hang out with him more,’” Liu recalled. “That’s when we started seeing each other differently.”
What never changed, however, was the bond they shared with the Beaver family. His daughters Liz and Laney (also a Daniels student at the time) and his wife Kim became a second family to Liu and Lin. With their own families back in Taiwan, they joined the Beavers every Christmas, every Thanksgiving, every Halloween and even every Labor Day.
“Those are the kind of celebrations that Americans celebrate like how we celebrate Lunar New Year: Family members gather together and have a good time, have a blast,” Liu said. “For us, we’re just studying abroad so often. It’s really good to have someone to celebrate with in a house, not just at a restaurant.”
Lin agreed. “I did see them as my American parents in some way. They treated me really, really well.”
"He, as a person, means a lot to us, not just as a professor but as a family."
So, as they began to plan their wedding, Liu and Lin immediately knew the Beavers would be at the top of their guest list. The ceremony was initially scheduled during the University of Denver’s final exam period but was moved to mid-December (a welcome adjustment that also gave them more time to plan).
At the wedding, Phil gave a short speech and guided the couple through their vows and the exchange of rings. And, after a shared glance and a nod from Liu, he invited Lin to kiss the bride.
It’s been years since his pupils graduated, but Beaver still tells his classes about his former students every couple of quarters. Lin’s impressive capstone landed him a position at Western Union the day after he presented it to a number of companies. And Liu’s analytics project during her first quarter at DU still sets the standard for creativity and imagination in a statistics class.
Now, after his trip to Taiwan, Beaver will forever have another, very special story to share.
“It was something that wasn’t degree-related, work-related or business-related,” he said of the wedding. “It always means a lot when [students] reach back and say, ‘You were more than our professor. You were our friend and mentor, and we want you there.’ But this one really took the cake to be asked to officiate. It just really made it special.”
"This is probably the greatest honor I’ve had as the program director here."
