I am excited to be writing to you as Interim Dean. The 2024-2025 academic year is already underway, and it began with much anticipation. Our Week of Welcome not only had students returning to campus but also had faculty members participating in program assessment. The first week of classes concluded with freshmen convocation and Meet Your Major which allowed faculty members an opportunity to get to know new students, including the largest freshmen class of declared finance majors (over 115). Several student-athletes who are business majors were recognized by the Division II Athletics Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.

I am pleased to announce that Mike Madison, the recipient of our Hall of Fame award for 2024,

is the new Chair of the CoBT Leadership Board. We have also welcomed several new board members. Please check out their bios. The board will be working through the Column Society to help our students be ready for interviews and internships.

As we reflect on the last year, I invite you to review the following:

• 2023-2024 Annual Report
• 2024 CoBT Commencement Photos and the feature story about our commencement speaker, Gavin Inrocci.
• 2024 Atkinson Honors Photos

This month, we are highlighting the accomplishments of our Department of Accounting & Business Law, a very active department in the first part of the fall semester. Please join me in celebrating the outstanding accolades and achievements of our faculty, staff, alumni, supporters, and students, as well as a summer recap and updates in Atkinson Hall.

Sincerely,

Dr. Tanya Goette

Each month we seek to celebrate and highlight the accomplishments of one of our four departments. Accounting & Business law is particularly active in the fall and has held several events alongside various firms and collaborations across Georgia College.

Of note, our Welcome Back event, sponsored by Nichols Cauley, involved more than 80 students and faculty during the second week of classes. Our Resume Workshop, sponsored by Fulton & Kozak, reviewed 50+ resumes, ensuring improved opportunities for our students.

Our accounting fraternity, Beta Alpha Psi, honorary organization for Financial Information students and professionals, has set out to seek Silver Status this year. Beta Alpha Psi plans to host several engagement events for accounting students including a Fraud Night, a "Where do I Fit?" seminar evaluating big and small firms and their differences, and two joint meetings with the Column Society. Additionally, several of our Beta Alpha Psi members attended the 2024 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Throughout September, in conjunction with the Career Center, we hold two major Accounting Career fairs: one with public accounting firms, and the other with a public service focus. Between the two fairs, nearly 40 firms visit campus to recruit our top-notch accounting students. Exhibitors include the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (a first-time exhibitor), IRS Criminal Investigations Division, and the Airforce Audit Agency.

The Accounting Profession class kicks off its in-class speaker series on September 20. In this course, accounting professionals share insights about accounting careers and their personal stories with our students.

If you're interested in getting more involved with our accounting students at your firm, or have prospective students interested in getting their bachelor's or master's from GCSU, contact us at collegeofbusiness@gcsu.edu or by reaching out directly to the Department of Accounting & Business Law: (478) 445-4023

Dr. Nicholas Creel is actively involved in various academic and community endeavors and specifically dedicates significant time to supporting students. One notable accomplishment was serving as the faculty mentor to the first-place team in the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management's Global Scaling Challenge this past Spring.

Dr. Creel embraces and facilitates student research taking place on our campus beyond what one might expect at the undergraduate level. He has also co-authored multiple articles in Newsweek with an undergraduate student, including a peer-reviewed publication on cryptocurrency in the Journal of International Banking and Regulation.

The service Dr. Creel gives to the institution extends outside the classroom: in recent months, he assumed a leadership role as the Presiding Officer of the University Senate. Despite his busy schedule, he has continued to engage in other activities, and accepted an invitation to speak to the Georgia Senate Committee on the Study of AI in July. This presentation focused primarily on the impact of AI in higher education. The presentation subsequently led to the opportunity to write an article for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution discussing how the liberal arts model provides an excellent path forward for universities in the age of AI.

He has engaged in media outreach throughout the past year, contributing to and writing articles for Newsweek, The Hill, the AJC, and AACSB Insights. Dr. Creel has had well over 50 statements published in articles for Fox News, Fox Business, USA Today, Newsweek, Forbes, Barrons, US News and World Report, and others. Additionally, he's done approximately half a dozen televised interviews for local and national news stories, many of which focused on the solar power $100,000 grant secured through the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation.

As part of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, Dr. Creel helped lead a team that established a NABCEP certification program for the design and installation of solar power systems. This program also provides participants with educational opportunities related to entrepreneurship in the green energy industry, empowering them to start their own solar panel installation companies. The course culminated in solar installations at the Baldwin County Water Treatment Facility.

Dr. Creel was just appointed to the advisory board of Georgia Bright’s Solar for All program that is administering a $156 million EPA grant. He hopes to secure more funding for the existing certification program to ensure its continued availability as a tuition-free model and potentially even grow it, making GCSU a hub for innovative solar education in central Georgia.

In recent news, Dr. Creel and Dr. Mahabaduge (Physics) and Dr. Fakai (Chemistry), in collaboration with the Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects, received official notification that they are the recipients of a $400,000 National Science Foundation EPIIC Grant. This prestigious grant will support the development of an inclusive innovation ecosystem through capacity-building efforts at the institution.

This is the third-largest NSF award Georgia College has received and the collaboration is a true testament to the liberal arts experience.

We are excited to highlight graduate Eric Neas, CPA. Mr. Neas is both an undergraduate and graduate Accounting alum and recently made partner at Aprio. He shared his story with one of our students and we hope you enjoy learning about him. If you know a Bunting College of Business & Technology alum who has a story to share, please email us at collegeofbusiness@gcsu.edu

The Academy of Legal Studies selected professor Jehan El-Jourbagy, Associate Professor of Business Law & Ethics, as their new Executive Secretary. Jehan El-Jourbagy teaches on the legal environment of business, business ethics, leadership, and sustainability. She's taken students on a summer economic tours of Georgia and organizes study abroad opportunities. Her work on corporate sustainability and integrity has been published in the American Business Law Journal, Berkeley Business Law Journal and featured in the Washington Post. She previously practiced law as partner at a Georgia law firm and was listed in UGA's 40 Under 40. In addition, Jehan was a co-recipient of the 2024 Environmental Section “Nancy Kubasek” Best Paper Award at the International Academy of Legal Studies Conference.

Dr. John Swinton was recognized as the 2024 Center Director of the Year for the Georgia Council on Economic Education. Dr. Swinton is a Professor Of Economics skilled in nonprofit organizations, policy analysis, data analysis, econometrics, and public speaking.

• Sophomore economics major, Sam Kinney, received the MURACE Summer Research Grant to work on co-authored research with Dr. Brooke Conaway and Dr. Kelly Lee.
• Sam Herrin accepted an offer of more than $34,000 from Florida State University to pursue his Economics PhD. Total compensation exceeds $300,000.
• Hunter Patenaude accepted an offer from the University of Wyoming to purse his Economics PhD. Total compensation exceeds $300,000.

• GC Women in Technology held the first event of the year with Sundari Parekh, Head of Business Information Security Office at CDW and an Innovative Security and Risk Leader and trailblazer, on personal branding and interviewing. This event was in preparation for the annual Grace Hopper Celebration.
• Eric Kobbe served as the first Fouts Bros Externship faculty. To learn more about this partnership, read about it in FrontPage.
• Dr. Joy Godin and Dr. Jeannie Pridmore presented two papers at the 2024 European Decision Sciences Institute Conference.
• Ward Risvold, our AI Lab director, has helped to launch GCSU's AI Community of Practice.

• The GC Entrepreneurs are hosting Bridgette and Jared Smith, local owners of Morning Grind and alums of GCSU. They will discuss how they combined their passion for coffee and an emphasis on quality customer service into a successful business approaching its second anniversary.

• Dr. Juan Ling presented, "Gender, Structural Holes, and Citations: The Effects of Women's Increasing Representation,” at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.

• Dr. Ania Rynarzewska was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, and presented at the Frontiers in Service Conference. She also co-authored papers on vulnerable population research in Cardiology Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Gastroenterology.

• Dr. Scott R. Cox and Dr. Stephen Rutner received The Matthew Sonfield Research Award. This annual award is for the best research article published in the journals The Journal of Small Business Strategy and the Small Business Institute Journal.
  

The Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management degree is now being offered as a Double Bobcat program! This allows students to take graduate classes that count toward both their undergraduate and graduate degrees.

This degree positions graduates for career advancement and leadership opportunities within the logistics and supply chain industry. Whether you want to move up in your existing company, obtain a position in a new company, become a better manager, or attain executive leadership, pursuing a master’s degree in logistics and supply chain management can help you accomplish your goals.

Now with a spring cohort, you can begin as early as Spring 2025. Apply today.

Many of our faculty members are new and others have new roles due to promotion. We'd like to celebrate the following:

• Brooke Conaway: Promoted to Professor of Economics

• Brent Evans: Assistant Professor of Finance, new hire
• Dean Coplean: Promoted to Senior Lecturer of Business Law & Ethics
• Daniel Wu: Assistant Professor of Data Science, new hire
• Donghun Kim: Assistant Professor of Finance, new hire
• Emuesiri Oduaran: Limited Term Lecturer of MIS, new hire
• Harilaos Sorovigas: Lecturer of Business Law & Ethics, new hire
• Joy Godin: Promoted to Professor of Management Information Systems
• Nicholas Creel: Promoted to Associate Professor of Business Law & Ethics
• Scott Manley: Chair of Management, Marketing & Logistics & Professor of Management, new hire
• Scott Cox: Promoted to Associate Professor of Logistics
• Sina Amiri: Promoted to Associate Professor of Management
• Ward Risvold: Assistant Professor of Business Communication, new hire

The Center for Economic Education, housed in the Department of Economics & Finance, held its 40th anniversary celebration over the summer. This celebration coincided with the 2024 Minority Youth in Business Camp. This year, high school students from across Middle Georgia stayed on campus and learned about rural entrepreneurship. Their stay culminated with presentations to judges on their business plans. We extend our appreciation to the judges of the competition: Pierre Clements, ’86, Keri Pompey, ’22, Mike Raymer and Raymell Shannon, ’86. Cheers to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders!

Fourteen business students barely had time to breathe during a two-week excursion to New Zealand this summer. It was jam packed with practical learning about leadership and best-sustainability practices, but also featured spectacular vistas, indigenous people, great food and even ziplining. Read more about the trip in FrontPage.

Ten J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology students travelled across Georgia during the first week of May. ­Nominated by faculty members, these high-achieving students represented disciplines across the college to businesses, alumni and government leaders throughout the state. Read more about the tour in FrontPage.

The Elevator Pitch takes place from October 1-4. Approximately 600 students compete to give their best 60-second personal marketing pitch and answer the common prompt of “Tell me about yourself.” The top 20 finalists will then face off in an in-person competition judged by a panel of volunteers. We're seeking sponsors and volunteer judges to make this event a success, and this competition is a great way to recruit, give back, and see what our current students are accomplishing! If you are interested in being involved, please email Kendra Evans at kendra.evans@gcsu.edu.