Turner Business

Turner Business congratulates Turner College business and computer science faculty  Michael Anselm , Janice Canedo ,  Brett Cotten , Robin Snipes  and Uma Sridharan for being recognized by one or more members of CSU's varsity basketball teams for the quality of their instruction and for having an impact on their success. Anselm is an instructor of management information systems, Canedo is an instructor in the School Cotten is a professor of finance, Snipes is a professor of management, and Sridharan is a professor of accounting.

On Tuesday night TSYS School cybersecurity Nexus program faculty had the privilege of hosting a STEM outreach program at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Columbus. It was an incredible experience engaging with bright young minds, sparking curiosity, and fostering a love for innovation.  The faculty are especially grateful for the opportunity to connect with CSU grad Valerie Figgins from Aflac (pictured at right), whose insight and enthusiasm added so much value to the evening. Her dedication to community engagement and education made a lasting impact on both students and volunteers alike.  Events like these remind us why investing in STEM education is so important. By providing hands-on experiences and mentorship, we’re helping shape the future of technology and innovation—one student at a time.  A huge thank you to everyone who made this event possible.

TSYS School alum  Brian Romano   was recently honored with a prestigious award from the International Society of Automation (ISA) — the elevation to ISA Fellow. This distinction recognizes his significant contributions to industrial automation, including his work advancing automation standards, training, and guidance. Brian's education credentials are impressive, having earned an A.S., B.S., M.S., M.B.A. and Ph.D. The M.S. was earned in applied computer science from the TSYS School in 2016. Turner Business congratulates Brian  on all of his remarkable achievements. We're excited to see what he accomplishes next in his professional career.  

CSU's Honors College is inviting Turner to the first of its Winter Colloquia Series – Crucial Conversations – Thursday, January 30th @ 5:30pm in 317 Illges Hall on CSU's main campus. The event will combine fun and current topics for engaging debate and discussion. This Thursday's event will be addressing the question:  Should Tik Tok Be Banned? Additionally, the  Icebreaker Debate question is: Is it better to be an Early Bird or Night Owl? Students and faculty from across campus are welcome to attend,  including those who are not in the Honors College.  Food will be served at the event, which is h osted by Ryan Lynch, Honors College and History Department, and Adam Bova, Communications.  You don't want to miss it!

After a series of recent graduations, the Turner College is seeking new Student Ambassadors. One of these recent graduates is Lauren Katzfey , who had an amazing academic career in the Turner College. Other recent graduates include Madison Henderson and JJ Bryan , both of whom are featured here at Turner Business .  If you have any students in mind who you think would be a great fit, please send along your recommendations to the Turner College Dean's Office.

Turner College alum Bethany Yandell is beginning the new year in a new position,  Director of Communications & Marketing for the College of Communication & Information at the University of Tennessee. In doing so, Bethany returns to the institution where from 2014 to 2022 she worked in communications and public relations, most recently with the UT Cancer Center. She joins UT this time from  Ackermann Marketing & PR, where she worked as Senior Account Executive. Speaking on this experience, Bethany stated,  "I would be remiss to not mention how much my time at Ackermann Marketing & PR has meant to me. The last two and a half years have allowed me to practice strategic communications for brands across the region that positioned me for the next step in my career in ways I couldn't have imagined." Bethany graduated from UT in 2008, earning an undergraduate degree in communications and public relations. In 2010, she joined the Turner College as Recruitment Coor...

CSU just announced that it will be ending the week with virtual learning on Friday, January 24, 2025. The decision means that the recent snowstorm impacted the entire week of 21-24 January, with Monday classes being affected by the Martin Luther King Day holiday.  

Due to icy and dangerous driving conditions, spring semester courses at CSU will remain virtual on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Thursday marks the third consecutive teaching day that the winter storm has forced virtual learning on CSU and other colleges and universities across the eastern half of the U.S. As for Friday courses at CSU, no decision has yet been made. That decision will arrive by 4:00 pm tomorrow. 

Earlier this month Turner College graduate Dan Kurber started a new position as a Community Banking Executive at Synovus. In responding to the company's announcement, Dan stated, "[The new year] is off to a great start and I'm looking forward to the journey ahead." His career at Synovus began in 2021 as an IT Project Manager. From there Dan transitioned to Senior Enterprise Project Manager in 2022, and later, in 2024, he took on the role of Enterprise Business Architect in Commercial Banking. Prior to joining Synovus, Dan served in the U.S. Army from 2011 to 2019, after which he joined Helios Capital as an associate. In 2020, Dan completed an internship with Search Fund Accelerator, while later that same year he founded Red Letter Capital. In terms of educational training, Dan earned Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2011. In 2016, he earned an MSOL from the Turner College, while in 2021 he earned an MBA from Yale University...

 

For the second consecutive day classes at CSU will operate remotely on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Snow is falling at this moment and is expected to continue for the next few hours. A decision regarding Thursday's courses has not yet been made. Expect an announcement on those to be made by 4:00 pm tomorrow.

CSU is transitioning to virtual learning tomorrow in response to the severe winter weather that is expected to sweep across the U.S. tonight and tomorrow morning. No decision regarding classes on Wednesday has yet been made but is expected by 4:00 pm tomorrow.

Turner Business is excited to relay the news that, according to Christine Izuakor's recent report for @Cybersecurity Guide , the TSYS School's master's program in cybersecurity is ranked as the 8th-most affordable for 2025. At the top of the ranking is Georgia Tech, followed by the City College of New York, Marshall University, Hood College, and the University of Central Missouri. Just ahead of CSU, at 6th and 7th, are Southeast Missouri State University and Morgan State University, respectively. Lastly, closing out the top 10 at 9th are 10th are Webster University and Fairleigh Dickinson University, respectively.  With a focus on quality education and budget-friendly tuition, CSU is the perfect choice for aspiring cybersecurity professionals looking to gain expertise without the hefty price tag.  Join our Cybersecurity program and take the next step in your career while saving on tuition.

Students and faculty in the TSYS School's cybersecurity Nexus program had the pleasure this morning of welcoming Fernando Cabello Jr. , Digital Forensics Analyst at TSYS and proud Cohort 4 alumnus, back to the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity.  Fernando met with the new Nexus cohort, opening the floor to address questions and concerns that students have been eager to discuss. As always, he shared valuable insights and practical advice from his professional journey, offering encouragement to those who now sit where he once did.  We deeply appreciate visits from our alumni and industry partners who continue to support and inspire future cybersecurity professionals. It’s these connections that strengthen our community and prepare students for the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity.  

CSU President Stuart Rayfield recently announced that undergraduate  academic advising will be transitioning from CSU faculty to a group of academic success coaches who will be hired and trained per NISS recommendations. Under this plan, there will likely be about 150 students assigned to each coach.  In addition, seven career coaches will be hired and trained to provide career guidance to students. This transition will begin in August, as faculty will continue to advise their current roster of advisees until graduation.  This shift in advising is expected to reduce faculty workload.  Faculty may volunteer to have conversations with these coaches to ensure that these coaches provide accurate information to the students.

A new study by TSYS School computer scientist Riduan Abid  points out that m odern agriculture is facing increasing challenges related to the efficient management of water resources and the optimization of agricultural productivity, both exacerbated by global climate change. As the authors add, these challenges have  motivated the development of an intelligent irrigation system using advanced technologies. In response, Abid et al.'s new study, which appears in the March 2025 issue of Scientific African , develops a real-time smart irrigation system using IoT and embedded technology, achieving efficient water management and supporting sustainable agriculture in Africa. Their system works to improve irrigation management by enabling real-time monitoring of climatic conditions and crop requirements and minimizing excessive water use while maximizing crop yields, taking into account environmental constraints and economic pressures. To achieve this improvement, the authors develop...

Spring 2025 classes have begun and there are some important dates upcoming for Turner College and TSYS School students to mark in their calendars. First, schedule changes including refunds ends tonight, as does the grace period for tuition payment. The reinstatement period begins on Monday and continues through next Friday.

An October 2023 post  at Turner Business  described a new research project by TSYS School computer scientist Riduan Abid and his colleagues at the University of Montreal on Fog computing that sought to  improve the performance of privacy-aware Reinforcement Learning agents (i.e., agents that complete tasks within an uncertain environment) that optimize the execution delay of Internet of Things applications by minimizing waiting delay. We can now report that the study now appears in the February 2025 issue of Computer Communications , an A-level journal that  publishes scientific articles (both theory and practice) and survey papers covering all aspects of future computer communication networks (on all layers, except the physical layer), with a special attention to the evolution of the Internet architecture, protocols, services, and applications. Congratulations to Professor Abid on this accomplishment. A few Turner College and TSYS School faculty are closing in vari...

CSU's administration has released the names of Dean's List students from fall semester 2024. A significant portion of the list includes the names of Turner College and TSYS School students. These names span from Junior Abac-Vicente , a sophomore finance major, to Holden Whatley , a sophomore cybersecurity major, both of whom are from Columbus. The complete list is provided below for your enjoyment.

Public Relations Specialist for the Butler Center for Research and Economic Development, Natália Del Ducca C. Ferreira , is reaching out to the Turner College community to report that the Butler Center is conducting an urgent survey that is crucial for its ongoing research, and it would greatly appreciate your support in gathering responses. The purpose of the survey is to study population trends in Columbus by asking sophomore, junior, and senior students on their perception on working and living in Columbus. To ensure it gathers sufficient data, the Butler Center is requesting the opportunity to briefly visit Turner College classrooms to administer the survey to students. If you are willing to help, please let the Butler Center know your availability and it will coordinate a convenient time to visit your class. For online classes, a survey link can be distributed to students via e-mail.

CSU's administration has released the names of President's List students from fall semester 2024. A significant portion of the list includes the names of Turner College and TSYS School students. These names span from Camille Ahumada , a junior computer science major from Richmond, California, to Tyrese Youngblood , a junior cybersecurity major from Columbus. The complete list is provided below for your enjoyment.

After four years serving the TSYS School as Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, Patrick Aiken is departing for new career opportunities. He recently bid farewell to the TSYS School, and to an army of newly credential cybersecurity professionals, on his LinkedIn page. Turner Business is reposting that message here for the academic community to receive. After four “bursting-at-the-seams” years as the Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, I’m leaving Columbus State University and starting a new, exciting chapter in my career. This is my “farewell and thank you” post.  It’s been a blessing to have the opportunity to pour my heart and soul (and everything else) into building the most amazing (and effective) cybersecurity workforce development program I’ve ever seen.  The lives that have been permanently changed through the Cybersecurity Nexus Program at CSU and the impact the program has made on the local community have been unbelievable.  I’ll always che...

CSU faculty will have the opportunity to meet with new CSU Provost Shannon Campbell on Wednesday, January 22 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm in the Multipurpose Room of the Student Rec Center on CSU's main campus. Campbell joins the CSU administration later this month from Appalachian State University, where she currently serves as an academe dean.

As pointed out in a 2023 essay in T he European Business Review , more attractive people seem to get better jobs, make more money, and supposedly have happier lives.  A new scholarly book by Turner College economist  Frank Mixon  and  Jasmine Bordere , an associate professor of accounting in the Turner College,   titled  The Beauty Premium in Academe: An Economic Approach  reviews much of the economics literature on the relationship between beauty and rewards, with particular attention to higher education. It begins with an examination of how beauty – their own and that of their peers and professors – works to benefit students in the academy, primarily through their admission to college and their grades whilst enrolled in college. From there it delves into the benefits of attractiveness to university faculty, primarily through student evaluations of their teaching effectiveness, the response by editors and ad hoc reviewers to their scholarly activity, ...

Construction on the exterior of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus (the  SCCT Envelope Project) has been d elayed while awaiting the official Notice to Proceed (NTP) from GSFIC (o fficial approval to proceed was received on December 4, 2025). If all goes according to plan from here on, c onstruction fence installation will occur mid-week with detour signage placed during low campus activity to minimize disruptions. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The TSYS School recently  announced the completion of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between Columbus State University and Future Academy - Higher Future Institute for Specialized Technological Studies in Egypt. According to Rania Hodhod , Director of the TSYS School, "It was an absolute pleasure to meet Dr. Sameh Habib, the Academy President, and Dr. Safia Abbas, the Academy Dean. Our fruitful discussions with the faculty have led to promising new avenues for collaboration, set to begin this spring semester.  I am incredibly excited about the implementation of our shared projects and the opportunities for student-to-student interactions, which promise to be a truly eye-opening experience for students at both institutions." I addition to Hodhod, thanks are also due  Eric Spears, Director of the Center for Global Engagement, for his support and efforts in making this agreement possible.