Turner Business

CSU has made changes to many of its military-focused degree programs and the cost of earning those degrees. This has included realigning its master of science in organization leadership from 36 hours to 30 hours for active-duty captains completing the Maneuver Captains Career Course. Fort Moore’s MCCC graduates earn nine credit hours toward the organizational leader-leader development master's degree, which can now be completed online or on campus. “Our captains participating in the Maneuver Captains Career Course now better understand the opportunity they have to be halfway to a master’s degree when they’re done with the course and head back to their primary duty assignment,” explained Pat Donahoe, a recently retired Maneuver Center of Excellence commanding general who now serves as a special assistant to CSU’s president on military-related matters. “And now, with online delivery, there's no excuse for a captain who comes through Fort Moore and completes MCCC training not to g...

More than 275 first-year and current students, faculty and staff packed Columbus State University’s Davidson Auditorium on Thursday, Aug. 17 for its First-Year Convocation. Now in its 19th year, the annual gathering provided a special welcome to students comprising the university’s Class of 2027. “Starting college is an incredible milestone, and our annual First-Year Convocation is our way of rolling out the red carpet to our newest Columbus State Cougars,” said the First-Year Experience program’s director, Melody Shumaker. “Our convocation allows new students to meet the people and learn about the programs that will make up their college experience. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn what Columbus State is all about.” Shumaker emphasized that the event isn’t just for the freshmen, but for all students who are entering their first year of studies at Columbus State — including dual-enrolled high school students and transfer students. And, since getting the inside scoop on c...

The lack of cybersecurity awareness among everyday users is a significant issue that can have detrimental effects on individuals and organizations alike. Traditional training methods such as slideshows and presentations have proven to be ineffective and can cause trainees to feel overwhelmed, overloaded, confused, or bored. To address this issue, TSYS School professor Rania Hodhod  and TSYS School computer science student Harlie Hardage teamed with Safia Abbas of Ain Shams University and Eman Abdullah Aldakheel of Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University to develop an adaptive serious game that teaches cybersecurity in an effective, engaging, and personalized manner is proposed. As Hodhod explained, "Serious games provide an immersive and simulated experience that can help users determine how they might act in real-life scenarios. However, existing cybersecurity serious games often measure effectiveness outside of the game using surveys, tests, and interviews, which can lessen...

Google is coming to the Turner College to meet prospective employees. The visit will occur in mid-September, and Turner Business will be providing additional details in the near future. In the meantime, interested TSYS School students who are interested in this upcoming opportunity should plan to take advantage of the resume workshop that will be hosted by the CSU Career Center. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, September 5, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The location for the workshop is room 408 in the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus.  Pizza will be served. Interested students can register here .

Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity,  Patrick Aiken ,  recently informed the CSU community that the TSYS School's academic programs in cybersecurity have been recognized by Newsweek as being among the best in the country for 2023. " Congratulations to all the amazing faculty who teach and mentor in the cybersecurity programs we offer at CSU. I have some caring and talented colleagues . . . [and]  students who put their trust in us to guide them along the path to their tomorrows. It is an incredibly rewarding responsibility," Aiken stated.        As indicated in the Newsweek  article,  TSYS School students also have access to a state-of-the-art cyber range, which allows students to practice defend against over 50,000 versions of malware on an exact replica of a company's network. The range can also simulate cyber incursions spanning simple web defacements to full-blown ransomware attacks. The Newsweek article describes the care...

Turner College senior Michael Zheng  recently completed a 10-week summer internship with Synovus that he described as both "enriching" and "transformative." As Zheng explained, "I had the opportunity to deepen my understanding of dual risk rating within the credit division. As an active participant on the Dual Risk Rating Team, I achieved significant milestones by successfully completing three pivotal projects for my final capstone presentation. These accomplishments serve as a testament to the remarkable professional growth I underwent during this journey." Zheng especially credits Learning Program Analyst Lead Heather Tharpe, and Early Talent Development Manager Michael Solomon, stating, "I extend my heartfelt gratitude to [them] for recognizing my potential and granting me this invaluable opportunity." Zheng also expressed appreciation to his manager, Megan Conner, a DRR Credit Analyst, for, as he stated,  "invaluable guidance [that] has ...

Students in sections of "BUSA 2115, Introduction to Business" taught by Phil Bryant and Michelle Zeller  were greeted by members of the Turner College's economics faculty on Monday morning. The visit by the four economists - Ben Blair , Fady Mansour , Frank Mixon and Wen Shi - is part of a new pilot program designed to  introduce students in the course to the faculty in the Turner College and to have the students learn about each of the Turner College's majors and minors. The presentation was facilitated by Shi, the new discipline coordinator for economics.       Each of the faculty members spent a few minutes describing their educational and professional backgrounds, as well as the topics of their ongoing research. Blair described some of his previous work with the Turner College's Butler Center, which involved economic impact analyses of tourism in the Columbus area. Mixon spoke to the students about his involvement with the Georgia Council on Economi...

The annual welcome back event for Fall 2023 was a huge success. Turner College students filled the second-floor lobby of the Synovus Center to meet and greet each other and Turner College faculty and staff (see image at left). Students and other attendees enjoyed pizza and a candy bar from 12:00pm until 2:00pm this afternoon. Associate professor of finance Joshua Brooks is shown below at right serving pizza to Turner College business and computer science students.      Student organizations and other groups had display and information tables placed throughout the lobby. Examples include the Financial Management Association, the Marketing Club and the Accounting Club. Shown in the picture below at left is Kirk Heriot , professor of management and the Evelyn and Ray Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship, describing the Turner College's May 2024 study abroad program. That program will take Turner College students to Ireland.      After getting their fill of food ...

The Turner College welcomes it newest cohort of cybersecurity Nexus students - Cohort 9, the biggest group yet - to campus this fall. "I never imagined the success our students would have in this 12-month rapid training program. [I a]lso didn't expect the growth from Cohort 3[, which had] 10 students[,] in Fall of 2021 to Cohort 9[, which has almost 40 students . . . [It is v]ery rewarding to see the effort paying off in student career success and program growth," explained Patrick Aiken , Director of the Turner College's TSYS Center for Cybersecurity.      Members of Cohort 9 were able to meet each other last week in the Synovus Center Theater (shown at right).  They also got to meet some of their instructors, including Armando Fernandez , who took the photo at right, and Elke Brumbaugh , pictured just behind Fernandez. The new cohort students also received a special treat, as Nexus graduates, and now cybersecurity professionals, Fernando Cabello and Cullen Mowery ...

Turner College students have an amazing opportunity to visit with executives at Synovus and learn more about the company's early talent programs. Synovus is putting together a one-day event to be held on Friday, September 22, from 8:00am to 3:00pm at Synovus Overton Park, the company's corporate headquarters in Atlanta. Synovus is seeking college sophomores, juniors and seniors from diverse backgrounds with strong interests in financial services or technology. Hotel accommodations at the Even Hotel in the Atlanta Cobb Galleria will be provided to those students selected by Synovus to attend the event. Meals will also be provided. Students will hear from executive leaders and talent advisors, such as Synovus Chairman, President and CEO Kevin Blair and Synovus EVP and CHRO Sharon Goodwine, about the financial services industry and Synovus' dedication to enabling meaningful careers. The event will conclude with small group networking sessions hosted by Synovus representatives....

The Turner College's Career Fair is set for Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. As with prior iterations, employers will be set up throughout the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus.  Previous iterations also included a Career Fair Prep Week, during which Turner College students were offered advice for creating an impactful resume, a chance to have a headshot taken by a professional photographer, and instructions on how to set up an effective LinkedIn page. Stay tuned to Turner Business  for more on this important event.

 

A recent study commissioned by the University System of Georgia and released on June 27 estimates the regional economic impact of Columbus State University’s institutional spending as $290.2 million for Fiscal Year 2022. This represents a 2.5% increase over the university’s FY21 computed regional economic impact. That is based on Columbus State’s $251.4 million in initial spending by students and by the university on personnel and operating expenses. The remaining $38.8 million is the multiplier impact of those funds on the local community. The annual economic impact study also revealed every institutional dollar spent by Columbus State University generates an additional 15 cents for the regional economy. “USG’s 26 public colleges and universities, individually and collectively, make a significant economic impact across the state, helping to put Georgians to work while spending money in local communities and helping their regional economies support Georgia’s growth,” USG Chancellor So...

With the first week of Fall 2023 classes almost complete, Turner College and other CSU students have experienced firsthand the fact that Columbus State is now a Microsoft campus.  That is, since the end of Spring 2023 the University has been migrating from its Google platform to the new Microsoft platform.  This change has so far meant that students, faculty and staff have been using Outlook as their means of e-mail communication rather than the Gmail platform offered by Google.  Currently, students are migrating to new e-mail accounts that will appear as "lastname_firstname@students.columbusstate.edu" while faculty and staff will continue to use e-mail addresses that do not include the "@students." portion.  In addition to being able to distinguish students' communications for those of others, this migration process has allowed for alumni e-mail addresses. These will include an "@alumni" tag in the address. Any Turner College (or other CSU) student ex...

The CSU media relations team recently issued a series of press releases announcing new faculty hires for the 2023-24 academic year.  One of those concerns the Turner College's latest addition, Insung Hwang , who joins the management information systems faculty. He is among the 17 new faculty joining the university faculty ranks this academic year. “We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Hwang to the Turner College of Business & Technology,” said Deb Kidder , the college’s dean. “His expertise in both business and technology is critical for the success of students in our current technology-dependent economy. He joins an excellent group of faculty who provide high-quality, career-ready classroom experiences for our students, and who together continue to be a resource for the Columbus community in terms of economic and workforce development.” Turner Business  once again welcomes Insung to the Turner College.

A new study by Turner College economist Frank Mixon and researchers from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Florida Atlantic University examines the academic performance of students in Brazil's public primary school system, focusing on variations in the different impacts of environmental conditions on school outcomes across both high- and low-performing schools, as well as across both urban and rural settings. In conducting the study Mixon and his colleagues analyze data on academic performance from 35,490 schools, of which 30,385 reside in urban centers and 5,105 are located in rural areas.  Results from the analysis suggest that school complexity, as measured by the number of grade levels served and school shifts offered, impedes academic performance within a school. Thus, where resources allow, decentralization of school levels into smaller units can contribute to better results, particularly in the case of rural schools, which tend to be more complex. Next...

Although Turner Business  usually leaves it to the Turner College's LinkedIn profile to advertise job opportunities for Turner College alumni, the recent promotion by Allstate found now on that profile seems worthy of inclusion here. As indicated by the advertisement shown at right, the company has 150 to 200 open positions that it will be seeking to fill from now until December. These positions allow for paid training up to $52,000, and, as these may be remote positions, internet reimbursement is also part of the employment package. Health and other benefits come with employment as well.  

Turner College students are all invited to the 2023-24 welcome back event to be held in the Synovus Center Lobby. Students will be able to meet Turner College professors, staff, and become familiar with all of our student organizations.  A pizza and candy bar will also be available for all to enjoy.  This year's event is set for Tuesday, August 22, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

The Turner College is currently seeking business tutors to serve in the Tutoring Center on the third floor of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus. The subject areas of greatest need are accounting, managerial decision making and finance.  Compensation is $15 per hour, and the list of perquisites includes flexible scheduling, time to work on school assignments, and access to faculty recommendation letters and resume support.  Interested students should contact Jennifer Stone in the main office at stone_jennifer2@columbusstate.edu.

As TSYS School computer scientists Jianhua Yang and Lixin Wang , along with their student Maochang Qin , explain in a new study, hackers usually send attacking commands through compromised hosts, called stepping-stones, for the purpose of decreasing the chance of being discovered. An effective approach for stepping-stone intrusion detection is to estimate the length of a connection chain. This type of detection method is referred to as the network-based stepping-stone intrusion detection. According to Yang, "All of the existing network-based stepping-stone intrusion detection approaches use the distribution of packet round-trip times to estimate the length of a connection chain. Our study explores a novel approach – Fast Fourier Transformation – to analyze the distribution of packet round-trip times." To do so, Yang and his colleagues first capture network packets from different stepping-stones in a connection chain, after which they identify and match the Send and Ech...

The CSU media relations team recently released a presser detailing some of the many leadership changes made just prior to the 2023-24 academic year. The portion of the presser relating to Turner College leadership appears below.    D. Abbott Turner College of Business & Technology Dr.  Tesa Leonce   has been appointed associate dean in the  Turner College . A member of the Department of Accounting & Finance’s faculty since August 2014, Leonce most recently served as the department’s chair. Prior to Columbus State, she served in regular and adjunct faculty roles at Wake Forest University, Eastern Illinois University and the University of Wyoming. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialization in finance and business computer information systems from Midwestern State University, and a doctorate in economics from the University of                        ...

The Turner College's introductory course -- BUSA 2115, Introduction to Business -- is being taken back into the laboratory this semester in order to develop some new ideas for generating greater interest in business among first-year students. One of the goals of the now-revamped course is to introduce students to the faculty in the Turner College and to have the students learn about each of the Turner College's majors and minors. Under a new experimental format, faculty from each discipline group -- accounting, economics, finance, management and marketing -- will have one or two class periods this semester to introduce its area of study. That is, faculty from each discipline group will take ownership of a week of the course during this semester to provide students with lectures, interactive activities, and/or guest speakers. At the end of the week, students enrolled in the course will complete an out-of-class activity in order to assess their understanding of the concepts and a...

  Help us welcome the  Class of 2027  to CSU's Turner College FIRST-YEAR CONVOCATION Thursday, Aug. 17 | 12:30 p.m. Davidson Auditorium Our annual First-Year Convocation marks a milestone for our incoming class of Columbus State Cougars.  Please encourage your first-year students to join us  at 12:30 p.m. in the Davidson Auditorium for  inspiring stories from several students representing a wide range of majors as they share about their Columbus State experience.   A  group photo and a dessert reception for the Class of 2027 will follow.

The Turner College's 2023 BizPitch Competition is set for November 9, 2023.  This is the third annual installment of the competition and in this case it will occur during Entrepreneurship Month 2023.  According to Turner College Dean Deb Kidder , "This competition is modeled after 'Shark Tank.'  The proposals will undergo a rigorous review." Participation in the competition has grown so much that this year's competition will take place in the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in Uptown Columbus. As before, the event will also be televised locally and the Turner College is teaming with StartUp Columbus to host.  In 2022, CSU alumna Rashmi Jain Hudson , who earned a BBA in marketing and an MBA, both from the Turner College, won over the judges and the crowd with Alltimate Luggage, her versatile 3-1 travel set featuring a garment bag that wraps around a generous duffle for a single carry-on bag. In claiming the top spot, Hudson collected the grand prize of $15...

Turner College students will have a chance to meet CSU's new president, Stuart Rayfield, at the President's Picnic.  Taking place from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Wednesday, August 16, the President's Picnic will be an opportunity for students to celebrate being back on campus, meet with all of CSU's student organizations, in addition to meeting the new university president. Both free food and various giveaways are available for students who attend.

The Turner College of Business & Technology recently announced the launch of a competitive grant program designed for Turner College faculty members.  According to Dean  Deb Kidder , "These grants are intended to bring together faculty from computer science and business to collaborate on curricular, scholarly, and/or service endeavors that support the college’s mission." According to the details of the new program, t eams will receive a stipend ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the scale of the project. Grant stipends will recognize the value of faculty time and expertise in developing new initiatives. Each member of a shared grant proposal will receive half the stipend at the beginning of the project, and the remainder after the final report is submitted and approved.  Project proposals should include any special requests for space, facilities, and/or materials. Proposals will be reviewed for approval by Kidder, Associate Dean  Tesa Leonce , and depart...

Turner Business recently spoke with incoming assistant professor of management information systems, Insung Hwang , about his current research endeavors. According to Hwang, "My research focus is about the future of work. Specifically, I am studying how automation and other IT software and tools transform the various natures of work using machine learning and econometric methods." Although this new post in the Turner College's Department of Management and Marketing is Hwang's first tenure-track position, he is not new to the world of academic research. His research program dates at least as far back as 2013, with a publication in the Journal of the Korean Data & Information Science  Society . That study, co-authored with Sangun Park of Yonsei University, develops an empirical distribution function-based goodness-of-fit test statistic. Hwang's current research examines whether  information technology leads to specialization and/or urban agglomeration of jobs.

The Turner College's two academic departments -- Department of Accounting and Finance and Department of Management and Marketing -- along with its TSYS School of Computer Science will begin the 2023-24 academic year this afternoon with separate Fall Planning Week meetings.  Gisung Moon will be hosting the Accounting and Finance meeting for the first time, following his recent appointment as departmental chair.  Moon replaces Tesa Leonce in that role after Leonce was elevated to Associate Dean of the Turner College.  Wen Shi will be replacing Frank Mixon as the economics discipline coordinator.  Mixon served in that role since 2013. Brett Cotten will be replacing Moon as the finance discipline coordinator. During the Management and Marketing meeting, chairman John Finley will be introducing departmental faculty to Insung Hwang , who joins  the department this year from a visiting position at Lehigh University. Stay linked to Turner Business  for any ...

During Monday's Turner College kickoff meeting , a few faculty roster changes were announced by Dean Deb Kidder .   Turner College faculty were informed that Becca Jones  has departed the Turner College's Department of Management and Marketing, while  Anastasia Angelopoulou and Suk Jin Lee have each departed the TSYS School of Computer Science. Jones is now a member of the business faculty at Georgia Southwestern State University. With her departure, the corps of instruction in marketing now consists of the following: Sungwoo Jung - Professor Edward O'Donnell - Associate Professor Angelopoulou has joined the faculty at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, while Lee is now on the faculty at James Madison University. With these two departures, along with the recent addition of Bruce Montgomery , the corps of instruction in the TSYS School now consists of the following: Riduan Abid  - Associate Professor Elke Brumbaugh - Lecturer Hyrum Carroll - Associate Prof...

TSYS School faculty welcome  Bruce Montgomery  to their ranks for the 2023-24 academic year. Montgomery comes to CSU from the University of Colorado and is joining the TSYS School as a limited-term lecturer. Montgomery, who has previously worked as an adjunct faculty in the TSYS School, earned a BSE in computer science from the University of Florida.  He also earned an MA in mathematics from The College of New Jersey and a PhD in computer information systems from Nova Southeastern University.  Outside of academia, Montgomery worked as a principal systems and software engineer, and as Vice President of Engineering, at Inovonics.