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Turner College News & Notes ― February 20, 2026

The Turner College's February 2026 faculty and staff meeting was held yesterday afternoon and there are quite a few items that were covered. At the top of the meeting Acting Turner College Dean Tesa Leonce provided an update regarding construction work on the Synovus Center. Phase 4 of the project has commenced, meaning that work on the front of the building is now taking place. The target date for completion of that work is May 19, 2026. This project to replace the Synovus Center's envelope has operated under a $10 million budget and is being undertaken by Sheridan Construction. Since the beginning of Phase 4, the street in front of the Synovus Center has been converted to one-way traffic.
Next, Leonce updated faculty and staff on the process of searching for a permanent dean of the Turner College. CSU is currently vetting search firms, having recently moved from four to three candidates for the job. Once a search firm is selected, it will work with a CSU search committee, whose members have also yet to be named. This combined group will hold "listening sessions" in order to gather ideas from the wider CSU community about the necessary professional traits needed for the position going forward. As reported by Turner Business, with so much remaining to be done before the search begins, the targeted start date of July 1, 2026, seems infeasible now. If accurate, this would mean the secondary start date of July 1, 2027, is more likely.
Turner College faculty and staff were also informed of the results of the faculty vote on Vision 2030, the organization's new strategic plan. Out of 48 business and computer science faculty, 31 voted in favor of the new plan, three opposed the new plan, two abstained, and 12 did not cast a vote. Leonce thanked marketing professor Ed O'Donnell and the members of the Strategic Planning Committee for taking on the difficult assignment of drafting the proposal that was adopted.
A big topic of discussion was the $550,000 in CHIPS grant money received by CSU in recent weeks and months. Leonce explained that a Turner College CHIPS Grant Steering Committee has been set up to receive proposals for projects and initiatives that fit within the purview of the grant. Representing the TSYS School on this committee are Rania Hodhod, Sean Glieberman, Chris Lovelock and Rahmatullah Roche. Joining them from the Department of Management and Marketing are Jennifer Pitts and Johnny Ho, while Gisung Moon and Charles Boster will be representing the Department of Accounting and Finance. Relatedly, Butler Center Director Fady Mansour informed the College that he and Lovelock have initiated a project examining labor market trends, especially those concerning STEM and related fields, in the Columbus area.
In an effort to strengthen ties with Aflac, the Turner College is participating in Aflac's program to find 10 co-op students. Students selected for the program with be assigned office space inside the Synovus Center and be provided a new laptop. More than 50 applications have been received so far. The deadline for applications is February 28, 2026, and Aflac will begin reviewing them in March. The company hopes to announce its selections at the end of April or the first of May in order to meet the May start date. The Turner College is also putting together a program allowing for Aflac employees to receive credit for prior learning on the job. This will allow Aflac employees to move through the College's business and computer science programs more rapidly.
Turner College faculty were introduced to the new Bill Hamilton Classroom on the fourth floor of the Synovus Center. Even though final touches, including white board installations, are being done now, the room is ready for use. In this regard, some ongoing Spring 2026 classes may migrate into the space to take advantage of the large stock of technology available for instruction. Otherwise, the room will open for business in Summer 2026 and receive wide use in Fall 2026. Faculty interested in using the room can schedule X2O training sessions. The room's main space seats 25 students, with a screen capacity of 48 students for off-site learners.
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