Turner Business

With fall 2023 final exam season underway, the Turner College is providing its students with a hot cocoa bar on Tuesday, December 5, from 10:00 am through 2:00 pm in the Synovus Center lobby on CSU's main campus. Sweets and hot cocoa will be available at the bar, while movies will be shown in the Synovus Center Theater, just off the main lobby.

TSYS School cybersecurity Nexus students recently received a visit from Brandon Sellers, Manager of Security Engineering at Aflac, and Jonathan White, Information Security Manager at Global Payments. Sellers, who has been with Aflac almost 20 years, has also consulted for TSYS. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. White spent almost 25 years at Aflac before joining Global Payments.  He holds an ISC2 Cybersecurity Certification and an ITIL Certificate in IT Service Management. Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, Patrick Aiken , stated that it was an honor to welcome Sellers and White, adding, " They shared insights into their companies' working environments and gave advice to our cybersecurity Nexus  students about how to prepare themselves to break into the cybersecurity  industry. [We t]hank [them] both for sharing [their] valuable knowledge and experience with our students."

As indicated in a recent story published by Columbus CEO ,  building on its longstanding partnership with the U.S. Army’s Maneuver Captains Career Course,  the Turner College's  MSOL program is now available to graduates of all of the U.S. Army’s active-duty Captains Career Courses. As the story indicates,  since 2012, soldiers participating in the Fort Moore-based  Maneuver Captains Career Course   have received pre-approved academic transfer credit toward the Turner College's master’s degree in organizational leadership. Today, t his opportunity is now expanded to every soldier graduating from any of the Army’s Captains Career Courses.  “All of our Army captains can be halfway to a master’s degree when they graduate from their CCC, and they can complete the degree online in their following assignment,” explained Maj. Gen. (ret.) Pat Donahoe, the recently retired Maneuver Center of Excellence commanding general who now serves as a special assistant to...

TSYS School cybersecurity and other students are invited to come out Thursday, November 30, for the November professional development meeting of the Columbus chapter of the Information Systems Security Association. The guest speaker is Benjamin Price , a cyber engineering analyst with Global Payments and Nexus alumnus of the TSYS School. The meeting runs from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm in the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity on the first floor of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus. The discussion will revolve around processes surrounding security engineering and where scripting plays a major role in cyber-related fields. Attendees are asked to bring a laptop with Python 3.X in order to participate. 

New research by Turner College economics professor Frank Mixon  and João Ricardo Faria of Florida Atlantic University relates the diffusion of critical theory into American colleges to the creation and growth of soft graduate programs associated with the ideologies that form the modern generation or wave of critical theory, which is often referred to as cultural Marxism. Mixon and Faria develop a formal model showing that the growth of these soft, politically correct graduate programs leads to increasing university costs and tuition, growing bureaucratic offices and expansion of these same graduate programs, and greater faculty pay and employment.  The formal model constituting the bulk of the study also provides conditions that lead the number of bureaucrats at an institution to eclipse the number of faculty employed by the institution. The study, which appears in a recent issue of  Theoretical Economics Letters, concludes that the spiral in costs and...

According to a new study, Turner College associate dean and professor of economics, Tesa Leonce-Regalado , ranks among the top Black academic economists in the U.S. The study, which is set to appear in the Review of Black Political Economy , ranks economists on the basis of citations to their prior research. According to this process, Leonce-Regalado is tied at 168th with Michael Mamo of Westminster College. Both Leonce-Regalado and Mamo are ranked just ahead of  Russell Williams of Wheaton College, Ian Wright of the University of Miami, and MacKenzie Alston of the University of Illinois, and just behind Uchechukwu Jarrett of the University of Nebraska, David McMillon of Emory University, and Regina Tawah of Bowie State University. Turner Business salutes Tesa for this achievement.    

The Turner College's annual holiday party is set for tomorrow at 4:00 pm. As in prior years, the celebration will include a game of Dirty Santa.  If you would like to participate in Dirty Santa, please bring your gift to the conference room on the 2nd floor. We hope to see you there!

CSU President Stuart Rayfield is scheduled to present a Fall 2023 update to CSU faculty and staff. Rayfield will speak to CSU faculty and staff on two occasions on December 1, 2023, with the first being in the Synovus Center Theater on CSU's main campus at 10:15 am. The second occasion will occur at 3:30 pm that same day in Frank Brown Hall on CSU's Riverpark Campus. Both sessions will be offered in-person only, with no livestream or video recording.  

A group of TSYS School students and faculty mentors attended the ACM Mid-Southeast Conference held on November 16-17 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Turner Business is proud to announce that the paper, "Understanding Random Number Generators," by TSYS School students Jonathan Co , Luka Wilmink , Robert Gleason  (pictured below) and Rahul Raj  won the Best Student Paper Award at the conference. Congratulations are also due to the team's mentor, professor Yesem Kurt-Peker .         

When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. Assisting on the fintech side of that effort is Turner College alum Daniela Castillo Raubenheimer , who graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in accounting and finance in 2010. While a student in the Turner College, Daniela was a member of the  Georgia Communication Association, the  National Society of Collegiate Scholars,  Phi Beta Delta and t he Columbus Hispanic Association. She was also listed  Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges and selected as  a top 10 student for the CSU Honors Conference. These accomplishments all occurred while Daniela was also a scholarship athlete on CSU's varsity tennis team. During her pla...

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia took some time at a recent gathering to celebrate the System's  military-connected students who "continue to inspire us" with their dedication to hard work and pursuit of excellence. A number of them took the stage at the meeting to share their personal journeys and the unwavering support they've found at University System of Georgia institutions. Among those celebrated was Captain Cheyenne Helsel , a current student in the Turner College's M.S. program in organizational leadership (MSOL). As noted,  Captain Helsel, pictured below with USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue, exemplifies the resilience and dedication that characterize our military community, and their stories serve as a testament to the transformative power of education. Turner Business thanks Captain Helsel for her service to the country and wishes her success in her future endeavors.

Faculty and staff of the Turner College will gather in the Synovus Center main lobby on Thursday, November 30, at 12:30 pm to celebrate Shamim Khan , as he is set to retire at the end of fall semester 2023 . For the past several years, Khan, an associate professor computer science, has served as Chair of the TSYS School. In that position, he has led TSYS School faculty to a number of outstanding accomplishments, many of which are described on the pages of Turner Business . Those wishing to attend the celebration are requested to RSVP to Jennifer Stone at stone_jennifer2@columbusstate.edu. Turner Business joins the CSU community in wishing Shamim a happy retirement.

CSU's Turner College and StartUP Columbus, an entrepreneurial support organization located in Uptown Columbus, are happy to announce the 2023 BizPitch Columbus winners -- Britnee Wheeler of Rose Maternity Co. in the traditional category and Joseph Hamilton of 4 Second Football in the technology category. Each winner received a $15,000 grand prize.  "This year we have winner's in both the technology sector and traditional entrepreneurship. By having two winners, we are able to embrace the diverse landscape of innovative businesses in the Columbus region, and celebrate the different paths and visions to entrepreneurship,” said Ben MacMinn, Executive Director of StartUP Columbus. Over 200 people attended this year’s BizPitch as the four finalists took the stage for seven-minute pitches to a five-judge panel. The event was also streamed on StartUP Columbus’ Facebook page for virtual viewers. As the pitches concluded, attendees were given the opportunity to cast votes for thei...

TSYS School assistant professor of computer science Linqiang Ge has been nominated by the Turner College's Awards & Scholarships Committee for the 2024 CSU Teaching Excellence Award.  This award recognizes and rewards the efforts of faculty members who develop and practice innovative methodologies in pedagogy. It showcases the creative innovations of the faculty members that facilitate enhanced learning, and specifically focuses on the uniqueness of the "program actions" that increase student interest and drive achievement. This award recognizes the effort and documentation of outcomes by the faculty member attempting to create a new learning strategy or methodology and celebrates the faculty's willingness to expand boundaries of traditional and established teaching strategies.  Since joining CSU in the Fall of 2020, Ge has served as instructor of record for a number of different course preparations, three of which --  CYBR 3136, focusing on wireless, IoT, and mo...

According to a recent press release from the University System of Georgia, enrollment at CSU has reversed a 2-year decline by growing 1.8% between fall 2022 and fall 2023. On a headcount basis, CSU has grown by 137 students compared to fall 2022. Among the USG State Universities, Georgia Southwestern State University leads the enrollment growth race, increasing its enrollment by 11% (339 students) since this time last year. Just behind is Georgia College and State University, which has grown by 7.9% (496 students), followed by Fort Valley State University (6%, or 156 students), Middle Georgia State University (4.6%, or 350 students) and Savannah State University (4.6%, or 137 students), and Albany State University (3.8%, or 241 students).  On a percentage growth basis, CSU ranks 7th among the nine USG State Universities, while on a headcount growth basis CSU is tied for 6th with Savannah State University. Total enrollment across the nine USG State Universities grew by 3.6%, or 3,29...

The first draft of the Turner College's Continuous Improvement Report , will be submitted to the AACSB in mid-December of 2023, is set for release on December 1.  It covers the Turner College's teaching, research and service endeavors for the 5-year period beginning with 2019 and ending with 2023. Recent entries here at Turner Business have reported on the College's research and teaching efforts since the last re-accreditation effort in 2019.      As we await release of the report, Turner Business is, via the table below, providing comprehensive look at the Turner College research portfolio for 2019-2023.  Listed in the table below are the academic journals publishing articles by Turner College faculty for 2019-2023 by journal quality and publishing house. As indicated below, Turner College faculty claim  just under 150 journal publications over the last 5 years, with 28% of these being published by A-rated academic journals. With another 45 days o...

TSYS School professor of computer science Lydia Ray has been nominated by the Turner College's Awards & Scholarships Committee for the 2024 CSU Faculty Service Award.  This award is to recognize those members of the faculty who have contributed outstanding professional service to the University and/or community. Service is defined as the contribution of the faculty member's expertise in his or her discipline to worthwhile efforts of the university, community, educational, environmental, business and economic life of the community. When they think of Ray's faculty service at CSU, what quickly comes to mind for most CSU faculty members is her 2021-2022 academic year service as executive officer of CSU's faculty senate. Moreover, many CSU faculty would consider this work enough to qualify one for a service award. However, Ray's case for a university service award is much deeper than just that endeavor.  For example, a  strong element of Ray's award portfolio i...

Two months before her second anniversary with the company, Turner College alum Catherine White was promoted to Director of Operations at Utah-based Hudson Oaks Wealth Management. White joined the company, which offers estate, investment and retirement planning, in addition to business solutions and risk management services, in November of 2021, after working as a High Net Worth Service Associate for Fidelity Investments. Her professional resume also includes posts at Synovus, where she worked as an Operations Specialist beginning in 2016, and as an Investment Associate from 2018 to 2020.  She holds both the FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 licenses, and she earned the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute in 2023.       White graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Turner College in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in finance.  During her studies in the Turner College at CSU, White was inducted into the Financial Managem...

Turner College professor of management Johnny Ho has been nominated by the Turner College's Awards & Scholarships Committee for the 2024 CSU Faculty Research and Scholarship Award.  This award recognizes outstanding efforts by faculty members in research and scholarship. The award is meant to celebrate the value of these activities, particularly for their role in contributing to the faculty's intellectual growth. It implicitly recognizes the role of research and scholarship in the enhancement of a faculty member's teaching and service capabilities. Ho's research portfolio, both in recent years and over the course of his academic career, exemplifies the types of accomplishments that this particular CSU award recognizes. In 2023 he published a study on additive manufacturing in the  Journal of Composites Science , while last year he published work on sustainable packaging and enterprise systems learning in the  International Journal of Business Research & Informa...

As an August 2023 entry of Turner Business reported, the Turner College's introductory course -- BUSA 2115, Introduction to Business -- is being taken back into the laboratory during fall 2023 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. One facet of the new plan has  faculty from each discipline group -- accounting, economics, finance, management and marketing -- take ownership of a week of the course during this semester to provide students with lectures and interactive activities in an effort to i ntroduce students to the faculty in the Turner College and to have the students learn about each of the Turner College's majors and minors. That process began back in August when the Turner College's economics facul...

The Fraser Institute's highly anticipated annual report, Economic Freedom of North America 2023 , was released yesterday.  Economic Freedom of North America is an attempt to gauge the extent of the restrictions on economic freedom imposed by governments in North America.  The freest economies operate with minimal government interference, relying upon personal choice and markets to answer basic economic questions such as what is to be produced, how it is to be produced, how much is produced, and for whom production is intended. As government imposes restrictions on these choices, there is less economic freedom.      As one of the report's authors, Dean Stansel of Southern Methodist University, summarized, " Of the four largest states, Florida  is [the] 2nd [most free state] and Texas  is 4th, while New York  is again 50th and California  is tied for 48th. Across North America, the least-free quartile of jurisdictions (including Canada and Mex...

CSU professor of computer science Lydia Ray informed Turner Business that tomorrow morning the TSYS School is hosting a virtual panel discussion on ethical issues related to generative AI. According to Ray,  "One of the most disruptive technological advances of our lifetime involves the development, commercialization, and application of Generative AI. We hear the words and see the changes from GenAI, but how much do we understand about what truly constitutes generative AI? Join [us in welcoming] Beverly Wright and Deepa Muralidhar as they walk through this advancement in our technology, how generative AI is applied, specific ethical challenges, and what we might expect looking to the future."  ​​      Beverly Wright serves as Head of Data Science & AI Solutions at Burtch Works. With a career spanning over 30 years across utilities, financial services, telecommunications, consulting, and academia, Wright has led numerous teams and established herself as a d...

The Fall 2023 Turner College interns are schedule to present reflections on their experiences on Monday and Wednesday, November 13 and 15. Among the group are computer science majors Khyran Bush , Lavender Furlow and Payton Mobley , who completed internships at Fort Moore. The remaining computer science major, Chitra Shah , completed an internship at BCBS of Alabama. Lizzy Grant , a marketing major, completed an internship in the Turner College. Two other marketing majors, McKenzie Hatfield and Mikayla Hatfield , each completed an internship with the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau.  The remaining marketing major interning this fall, Lauren Roberson , worked with the Columbus Convention and Trade Center. Lastly, Shawn Jones , an information technology major, completed an internship with Omega Fi. The afternoon presentations will take place in room 305 of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus. Turner Business  thanks Fonda Carter , professor of accounting, for admin...

According to Jessica Dickler's  recent story for CNBC, the latest Payscale report on top salaries found that petroleum engineering currently holds the top spot for highest-paying bachelor’s degrees in 2023, followed by operations research and industrial engineering. According to Dickler, " While students who pursue a major specifically in science, technology, engineering or math — collectively known as STEM disciplines — are projected to earn the most overall , Payscale’s college salary report  found that petroleum engineering currently holds the top spot for highest-paying bachelor’s degrees in 2023.  Graduates in the field earn nearly six figures just starting out and more than $200,000 with 10 or more years of experience."  After petroleum engineering and operations research and industrial engineering, the next highest-paying majors are interaction design, applied economics and management, and building science. The top 10 majors, some of which are available...

The Turner College of Business & Technology will hold an Advising Day on November 14, 2023, from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. Advising Day will offer Turner College business and computer science students a one-stop opportunity to get assistance in enrolling for spring semester 2024 courses. Interested business and computer science students should drop by Room 350 in the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus.

Turner College associate professor of economics Wen Shi and TSYS School professor of computer science Yesem Kurt-Peker are both scheduled to present their research at CSU's 2023 Faculty Research and Gregory P.  Domin Graduate Conference, which is scheduled for November 8-9, 2023, in the Cunningham Center on CSU's main campus. Shi's research presentation focuses on the difficulties faced by Alabamians in accessing capital from traditional financial institutions such as banks and savings and loans, forcing many to rely on predatory lending practices. Using cross-sectional data in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2020, that lower incomes and greater poverty increase the numbers of predatory lending practices-pawnshops, deferred presentiment services, and small loan providers in Alabama, while higher unemployment rates have a positive effect on deferred presentiment services concentration in the state.      Kurt-Peker's research presentation focuses on the movement of businesses tow...