Turner Business

New research by Turner College economist Frank Mixon and Spencer Eli Kagan of the University of California – Berkeley examining surfers' responses to the decision by California governmental authorities to close multiple access ramps connected to the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for months after containment of the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires, which resulted in the loss of access to some of southern California’s high-quality surf breaks, is now set for publication in a 2027 issue of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology . As indicated in our 27-March-2026 post about this study , Mixon and Kagan point out that in response to beach closures, many Los Angeles area surfers migrated to open breaks, thus increasing congestion at these surf breaks. The added congestion caused by the migration tested the social norms that traditionally govern surf break utilization. Thus, as Mixon and Kagan argue, the migration of surfers in response to the California wildfires serves as somewhat ...

Columbus State University contributed over $322 million to the regional economy in fiscal year 2025, marking nearly a 7% rise from the previous year, as detailed in a new economic impact report by Jeffrey Humphreys, Director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. “As a leading state university in Georgia, we are dedicated to helping make the Chattahoochee Valley a thriving and economically prosperous community,” stated Stuart Rayfield, President of CSU. “Our students and their success are central to this mission. As they study, graduate and make their homes in the area, they drive local innovation and prosperity.” CSU’s FY25 economic impact of $321.9 million sets a new high for the university and contributes to the University System of Georgia’s record $25.1 billion annual economic impact — an 8.9% rise compared to last year. The university's influence on its seven-county West Georgia service area — Chattahoochee, Harris, M...

CSU Provost Dustin Anderson updated the CSU community this morning on the administrative job searches that are planned or currently ongoing. As he noted, CSU is currently planning for searches for Dean positions in two colleges and looks forward to identifying exceptional leaders who will help advance the university's mission and support the success of our students, faculty, and staff. "I am grateful to Wanda Ebright, who will chair the search for the College of Letters and Sciences Dean, and Margie Yates, who will chair the search for the Turner College Dean. Their leadership and commitment will be invaluable as we work to attract outstanding candidates for these important roles. We are looking forward to hearing your feedback on the kinds of leaders we're looking for in these colleges," Anderson stated. He also broke news by announcing plans for a search for a new Executive Director of Emergent Technology. "Last August, we began a year-long analysis of the futu...

In recent posts Turner Business has spotlighted the research endeavors of two of its economics faculty, namely Fady Mansour and Wen Shi . Mansour is currently the Sarah T. Butler Professor of Economics and Director of the Butler Center for Research and Economic Development. Shi is currently an associate professor of economics. As the table below indicates, Mansour earned a PhD in 2017 and his research has thus far garnered 106 Google Scholar citations, while Shi earned a PhD one year earlier, in 2016, and her research has so far picked up 99 Google Scholar citations. The research conducted by each of these faculty has also garnered an h- index of five, meaning that they each have five journal publications that have each earned five or more Google Scholar citations. As the rest of the table above states, Mansour has published 11 journal articles so far. Of these, two are A-level journal pieces and nine are B-level journal papers. Shi has eight journal publications, five of which are A...

The TSYS School recently welcomed its newest cybersecurity Nexus students in Cohort 17. Returning members of Cohort 16 were also welcomed back to campus for fall semester. Their energy has been  incredible, and they are ready for a fall semester of learning, connection, and stepping confidently into the world of cybersecurity together. Turner Business welcomes these students to campus and wishes them the best. Turner College and TSYS School alumni are invited to reconnect, raise a glass, and rediscover the newly redesigned Davidson Center on September 1, 2026, from 5:00pm to 6:30pm. The first 50 CSU alumni will receive a CSU logo puffer vest. Please plan to stay afterward for an inspirational evening with #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Do You Want to Do Before You Die? Ben Nimtin. The Turner College Fall 2026 Welcome Back Event is set for Tuesday, August 25, 2026, from 12:00noon to 2:00pm in the Synovus Center's main lobby. Students may enjoy free pizza, fun and ga...

Alabama is a high-poverty state with permissive small-dollar credit regulation and one of the largest licensed alternative financial service provider markets in the United States. Using Alabama State Banking Department licensing data for 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2020, new research by Turner College economist Wen Shi , Tuskegee University's  Rui Chen and Robert Zabawa, and Jiayi Xu of Siena University estimates Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood models with high-dimensional fixed effects in order to examine conditional spatial associations between traditional financial institutions, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and counts of payday lenders, small-loan providers, and pawnshops. Their models are estimated at census-tract, ZIP-code, and county levels, and two-part hurdle models separate alternative financial service provider presence from conditional intensity. According to their results, lagged credit-union intensity shows the most consistent positive associat...