Turner Business

New research by Turner College economics professor Frank Mixon and his colleague Kamal Upadhyaya of the University of New Haven points out that during the 1930s famed Harvard University president James Bryant Conant created the concept of a “clinical professor,” his term for a talented professional who not only is familiar with the problems of instruction, but is also well-versed in the theoretical advances in, and in the instruction of, their chosen subject. As Mixon and Upadhyaya indicate, the concept of the clinical professor – sometimes referred to as a “professor of practice” or something similar – is now in widespread use in academe, including in the various business disciplines. As Mixon explained to Turner Business, “At research universities, clinical faculty are often viewed as key inputs into the production of scholarship, given that their utilization allows more research-oriented faculty to enjoy reduced teaching loads and advising responsibilities. At the same time, the ...

According to IvyClimbing.com, as business education tends to focus on functional areas, such as accounting, marketing and finance, where the courses are often organized around a focus on the “how.”  This type of educational training is typically preceded by a more general education, often referred to a pre-business education, focusing students’ attention to the “why.”  It is this type of educational training that Turner College management professors Neal Thomson and Kirk Heriot are looking into in their new research examining the history of the pre-business curriculum over the past 100 years.  As part of their analysis, they are also proposing some recommendations to update the pre-business curriculum so that it better reflects the current era of business education and the needs of businesses.  Thomson and Heriot are also teaming on a second project investigating the relationship between social attribution styles and preferences for procedural or distributive just...

New research by computer scientists in the School of Information Technology at Universiti Utara Malaysia that ranks institutions and individuals on the basis of scholarship in the area of stepping-stone attacks heaps praise on the Turner College’s TSYS School of Computer Science and two of its faculty – Jianhua Yang and Lixin Wang .   The article, published in the April 2023 issue of the International Journal of Research in Engineering and Science , provides a bibliometric analysis of both publication and citation data from 2000 to September of 2022 related to research on stepping-stone intrusion.   Among several results, it reports that Columbus State University ranks second worldwide, trailing only the University of Houston, using total publications on the subject as the basis of comparison.   A number of other U.S. institutions appear in the top 10, including third-ranked North Carolina State University, fourth-ranked University of Illinois, sixth-ranked Iowa State U...

In a recent chat with Turner Business , Turner College professor of marketing Sungwoo Jung made the point that luxury brands are gaining the degree of influence in many developing countries that they enjoy now in developed countries.  He has been pondering this issue as part of his international marketing research program, which typically focuses on advertising, pioneering advantages and multi-cultural analysis.  Currently, Jung is concentrating his energies on a cross-cultural analysis of brand equity that highlights luxury brands’ performance.  His research finds that China, Japan and South Korea have each seen an increase in market share for luxury brands in recent years.  As Jung explained to Turner Business , “These three countries share a common philosophical background – Confucianism.”  With that point in mind, Jung and his coauthors are currently engaged in an investigation of how Confucianism influences consumer behavior in these three Asian countries, ...

Instruction by Turner College associate professor of management Laurence Marsh is a key component of the Turner College’s graduate program in organizational leadership.  One of the courses that he instructs in that program is MSOL 6125, Negotiations and Conflict Resolution.  Thus, it is not surprising that, in terms of research, he is currently investigating negotiations, particularly the role played by gender differences.  Marsh recently visited with Turner Business to discuss this work, which he is conducting with Hyeran Choi, formerly of CSU’s Turner College and currently of Chung Ang University in South Korea.  As Marsh explained, “We are using three negotiation scenarios and collecting subject responses in these scenarios where they are negotiating with someone of the same sex or the opposite sex.  We are also collecting data on multi-party negotiation scenarios where the gender mix is varied for each observation.”  This project by Marsh and Choi...

On Wednesday, April 19, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved Columbus State University’s request to rename its business school as the D. Abbott Turner College of Business & Technology. The name change, Dean  Deborah Kidder  notes, comes after input from multiple stakeholder groups – students, employees, alumni, partners and its advisory council members. Collectively, these groups strongly favored emphasizing the role both business and technology share in advancing the college’s strategic and competitive advantages. “The change encapsulates the essence of our competitive advantage as a college rooted in both business and technology,” said Kidder, who also serves as the college’s Bill Heard Endowed Chair of Business Administration. “Now more than ever, technology is at the heart of business. Because the Turner College is AACSB accredited, business and technology are intertwined through our curriculum – meaning our students ben...

Turner College business students were treated by a visit from Michelle Zeller, a Chief Marketing Officer with 30 years of professional experience.  Zeller currently serves as an executive advisor to Think Consulting, a national technology and operations advisory practice that provides on-the-ground transformation and consulting, led by executives and adapted for the mid-market.  She is also a C-Suite member of Chief, a private network built to drive more women into positions of leadership.   Zeller shared her experiences and expertise with three separate business classes on April 19, 2023.  Turner Business joins the Turner College’s administration and faculty in thanking Michelle for investing in our students.

Turner College associate professor of finance Gisung Moon recently visited with Turner Business to discuss some of the topics he is currently researching.   According to Moon, “My research these days is in the areas of retirement portfolio and financial planning.”   One of his current projects involves social security retirement benefits, and the choices that millions of Americans are facing every year concerning them. More specifically, Moon is investigating the optimal decision rules for couples to employ in deciding when to file for benefits, given the joint probability of their lifespans.   “The decision is not simple, especially with couples who must consider auxiliary benefits in addition to their own,” Moon explained.   “I am also working on integrating the social security benefits into the asset allocation decision concerning one’s retirement portfolio.”   This line of work continues Moon’s most recent research program. Turner Business recently wrote ...

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the latest data show that there are more than 10 million job openings in the U.S., but only 5.7 million unemployed workers.  According to a new study by Turner College researchers, this imbalance means that employee job satisfaction is an even more critical attitudinal variable in today’s workplace.  Recent research by the Turner College’s Robin Snipes , Jennifer Pitts and Phil Bryant , along with Tobias Huning of the University of North Florida (and formerly of the Turner College) and Alexandra Snipes of Emory University, asserts that j ob satisfaction is one of the most studied variables in the organizational behavior literature, mainly because researchers understand its impact on employee turnover and organizational effectiveness.  This understanding includes the notion that, although there are differences in how employees view and react to organizational politics that are, at least partly, based on individual differences, em...

Turner College associate professor of management Kevin Hurt has a number of different research studies in various stages of completion that aim to advance society’s knowledge about servant leadership.   As Hurt explained to Turner Business , “ One paper is a critique of what my coauthor and I perceive as a weakness of [servant leadership] theory, and, of course, we put forth our position on how to overcome that deficiency.  Another paper positions psychological safety as a mediator between servant leadership, commitment, and workplace engagement.”  Hurt, who currently serves as editor of Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice , has published a number of studies on various aspects of servant leadership, some of which are co-authored with graduates of the Turner College’s graduate degree program in organizational leadership.  Hurt’s work on servant leadership is largely responsible for CSU’s ranking of 14 th worldwide according to a 2021 study of the leading insti...

TSYS School computer science professor Linqiang Ge and a team of faculty from Sam Houston State University have joined to publish a review of the latest research on the Internet of Things (IoT), which is the advancement that interconnects various smart devices (such as smart mobiles, intelligent refrigerators, smartwatches, smart fire alarms, smart door locks, and many more) allowing them to communicate with each other and exchange data seamlessly.   As their review indicates, we now use IoT technology to assist in many of life’s daily activities, such as smart transportation.   IoT provides drivers in a smart city with many benefits, including traffic management, improved logistics, efficient parking systems, and enhanced safety measures.   When encompassing machine learning and big data, smart transportation involves the optimization of routes, parking, street lighting, accident prevention, detection of abnormal traffic conditions, and maintenance of roads.   The ...

Research by Turner College professor of economics and holder of the Turner College’s Violet and Thomas Buck Chair, Frank Mixon , recently surpassed 4,500 career Google Scholar citations.   Additionally, Google Scholar reports that his i 10-index is equal to 119, meaning that Mixon has published 119 studies that have each garnered at least 10 citations.   Google Scholar also reports two additional metrics.   One of these is a scholar’s h -index, which is the largest number, h , of a scholar’s publications that have each garnered at least h citations.   Mixon’s h -index is 31, meaning that his 31 most-cited studies have each generated at least 31 citations.   Another Google Scholar metric is a scholar’s g -index, which is the largest number, g , of a scholar’s publications that have collectively garnered at least g 2 citations.   Mixon’s g -index is 52, meaning that his 52 most-cited studies have collectively produced at least 2,704 citations. Mixon’s top-c...

Turner College graduates Kevin Woodrum and William Roundtree spoke recently to the College’s chapter of the Financial Management Association (FMA).   Both affiliated with Synovus, where Woodrum is a trust specialist and Roundtree is a financial advisor.   Woodrum, a graduate of Northside High School in Columbus, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Turner College in 2020.   Roundtree earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Turner College in 2014.   The FMA’s faculty advisor is Brett Cotten , a professor of finance in the Turner College.  

The inaugural Turner College banquet, held on April 7 on CSU’s Riverpark Campus, was a huge success, thanks in large part to Turner College student Taylor Parker .   Parker, a 2023 Legacy Award winner, is currently the president of the Turner College’s chapter of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.   Attendees enjoyed dinner, and a number of awards – for students and faculty – were presented.   The montage below nicely captures the end-of-year celebration.  

Beyond academics and college affordability, Columbus State University provides a wide variety of programs and services to help current and former military members acclimate to university life. Collectively, these programs are integral to the university’s consistent recognition as a Military-Friendly.com institution.  The program’s most  recent 2023-24 rankings find Columbus State as the 8th military-friendly “small public” university in the nation .  Columbus State offers multiple academic pathways for active-duty soldiers to help them advance in their military careers or begin their transition to civilian life.  Columbus State’s close proximity to Fort Benning offers a unique benefit for active-duty soldiers completing the U.S. Army’s 22-week Maneuver Captain’s Career Course (MCCC or MC3).  CSU provides  pre-approved graduate transfer credit for MCCC graduates . By combining that transfer credit with three prescribed, three-hour courses, MCCC graduates can...

Management & Marketing One of the faculty in the Turner College’s Department of Management and Marketing was recently awarded tenure and promotion.  Earning tenure and promotion to associate professor of management information systems is Yoon Lee .  Lee earned a PhD from the University of Texas - Arlington, and his recent research appears in Information Systems Frontiers and Journal of International Technology and Information Management .  To date, Lee’s research has produced four Google Scholar citations. 

Turner Business recently touched base with Fady Mansour , an assistant professor of economics in the Turner College, to discuss his current research endeavors.   TB: First, congratulations on the news of your receipt of tenure and promotion to associate professor.   FM:  Thank you so much.   I am grateful for all of the help and support I have received from my Turner College colleagues and others in the previous years.   TB: What are you working on currently?   FM: I am currently working on a project with Uma Sridharan and Lydia Ray of the Turner College analyzing individuals’ use of cryptocurrency for compensation and spending decisions.   We surveyed 225 respondents to identify factors influencing individual choice to accept digital currency as compensation and/or to use digital currency for payments.   Retailers seek to improve customer satisfaction and one way to do that is to give customers the option to pay in their curre...

In a new study appearing in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management , TSYS School assistant professor of computer science Yi Zhou and colleagues from Jinan University (China) and the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) examine the role of data replica placement in the mushrooming growth of data volumes.  As they indicate, data replica placement plays a key role in promoting the energy efficiency and service quality of data-intensive data centers.  Data replica placement is the process of placing duplicate copies of data in the most appropriate node in a data grid.  The study by Zhou and his colleagues assert that the existing data placement strategies mainly focus on storage performance improvement or service quality enhancement in data centers, but ignore the ubiquitous issue of heat recirculation.  To fill this void, the new study proposes a thermal-aware data replica placement strategy called TADRP, which aims to improve cooling efficiency and minim...

Accounting & Finance Three faculty in the Turner College’s Department of Accounting and Finance were recently awarded tenure and/or promotion.  Earning promotion from associate professor to professor is Tesa Leonce , who also serves as chair of the department.  Leonce earned a PhD from the University of Wyoming, and her recent research appears in Tourism Economics , Empirical Economics and International Journal of Healthcare Management .  To date, Leonce’s research has produced 70 Google Scholar citations.  Next, Joshua Brooks and Fady Mansour were both tenured, while Brooks was also promoted to associate professor of finance and Mansour received a promotion to associate professor of economics.  Brooks earned a PhD from the University of Alabama, and his recent research appears in the Journal of International Money and Finance .  His research has garnered 29 Google Scholar citations.  Lastly, Mansour earned a PhD from Middle Tennessee State Univ...