Turner Business

Possibly for the first time ever, two winners were announced to receive one of the Turner College's faculty awards as both Turner College associate professor of accounting Charles Boster and TSYS School cybersecurity lecturer Elke Brumbaugh took home the 2026 Turner College Excellence in Teaching Award. Since joining the Turner College just a few years ago, accounting professor Boster has steadily built an impressive record in accounting education. He uses classroom examples and cases to encourage discussion of topics. This approach develops student confidence and encourages problem solving based upon creative thinking. The assessments utilized by Boster primarily focus on a group project culminating in a written report and project presentation. Students are encouraged to integrate technology such as artificial intelligence, spreadsheets, word processors, and presentation software for efficiency in research and communication. In line with continuous improvement approaches, s...

Possibly for the first time ever, two winners were announced to receive one of the Turner College's faculty awards as both  Turner College associate professor of accounting   Jasmine Bordere and TSYS School computer science professor  Yi Zhou took home the 2026 Turner College Excellence in Research Award.  Like most researchers, Bordere's scholarship includes peer-reviewed journal articles, interdisciplinary research collaborations, and applied research that informs both academic literature and professional practice. Her eclectic research program addresses financial reporting standards, auditing practices, teaching effectiveness and student learning in higher education. Bordere's first publication, a study of audit risk, appears in the 2015 volume of Current Issues in Auditing . In the above and other areas, Bordere has experienced several research successes in recent years. Her 2020 article in Internal Auditing examines the financial reporting impacts of the coro...

Turner College finance professor Joshua Brooks received the 2026 Turner College Excellence in Service Award at the organization's Strategic Planning Retreat earlier this week.  MBA Program Director, Chair of the Assurance of Learning Committee, and Faculty Senator are just some of the service roles that Brooks fills each academic year. These accompany a long list of other service activities, including development and delivery of a new RIVER course, QEP grading, QM peer review, and membership on about six Honors College thesis committees, making him a strong contender for the 2026 Turner College Service Award. Brooks' service work is not contained within the boundaries of CSU, as he serves as a reviewer for multiple academic journals, a scientific advisor for two fintech startups, a member of various advisory boards, and a director of a non-profit board. Lastly, Brooks' community service extends to his children's educational pursuits given that he is the PTA Treasurer, ...

Turner College management professor Kevin Hurt  was a big winner at the Turner College's recent Strategic Planning Retreat, taking home the 2026 Turner College Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award. As indicated here previously,  Hurt offers his students a unique research-based approach to graduate education. In addition to assigning academic readings and a research requirement in his MSOL classes, his students are also assigned movies and/or TED Talks to watch, after which they are tasked with diagnosing whether a particular leader demonstrates servant leadership. In completing this assignment, Hurt's students must go beyond a simple "yes" or "no" answer and instead link their perspective back to the academic literature to justify their positions. Students are then graded on how well they defend their positions with the academic literature, not on the correctness of their conclusion. These diagnosis papers yield the additional benefit of stimulating interes...

The TSYS School's Linqiang Ge took home the 2026 Turner College Excellence in Online Teaching Award at this year's Turner College Strategic Planning Retreat.  Throughout his brief time in the TSYS School, Ge has worked to achieve and maintain excellence in online teaching, to ensure student success in the online learning environment, and to retain students in the TSYS School's academic programs. "I've embarked on a journey into online teaching, navigating through virtual classrooms and digital landscapes to deliver quality education to my students," Ge explained to Turner Business .  One of the primary challenges Ge initially encountered in terms of online education was maintaining student engagement in a virtual setting. To address this, he redesigned course materials to be more interactive and visually stimulating. Incorporating multimedia elements, interactive simulations, and gamified learning activities helped sustain student interest and participation t...

President Stuart Rayfield has approved the promotion and/or tenure of 27 members of the Columbus State University faculty — granted in recognition of their commitment to teaching, scholarship and service. Their new appointments will begin in August to coincide with the start of the 2026-27 academic year. Among those approved by Rayfield is Mark James , who will hold the rank of professor of management beginning with the next academic year. James is currently nominated for the 2026 Turner College Research Award. Bolstering his nomination for this award are recent publications in the  Journal of Business and Economics and the  Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice . Joining James among this list of 27 is the TSYS School's Elke Brumbaugh , who was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Brumbaugh is currently nominated for the 2026 Turner College Teaching Award. In that regard , she immerses her students in authentic, hands-on environments, supported through mentorship...

In prepping for his Managerial Finance course in the Turner College's MBA program, finance professor Brett Cotten spent a lot of time revising and restructuring it to fit the new hybrid format. To effectively teach in the new format, he recorded, edited, and eventually published 24 different videos to deliver course content.  Cotten also wanted to ensure the class was practical, so he gives students the opportunity to apply what they were learning to realistic business situations. To accomplish this, he utilizes many class examples, sets aside time for in-class assignments, and makes projects a substantial part of the course.  "While people generally think of finance as quantitative, and it is, my projects always include a written component because I believe it is critical that students be able to clearly communicate their assumptions, methods, and the results of their analyses.  I also want students to be able to apply the concepts and tools they learn, and these projec...

Turner College faculty, staff and students are invited to help celebrate our students’ academic and service accomplishments at the annual Scholastic Honors Convocation on April 24, beginning at 4 p.m., in the Cunningham Conference Center’s Blanchard Hall. More than 100 students are honored at the annual event, which includes presentation of the Faculty Cup Award and Educator of the Year Award.  The CSU Faculty Cup Award, awarded annually at the Scholastic Honors Convocation, is the highest award granted to a CSU student who has earned 96 or more semester credit hours toward a baccalaureate degree at the time of nomination. The student should have graduated at the end of the previous fall semester or should be a candidate to graduate in the upcoming spring or summer term. The student should be at least in the second year of residence at CSU. The award signifies superior academic achievement, participation in university organizations, leadership, service to others, and potential...

Like most researchers, Turner College associate professor of accounting Jasmine Bordere 's scholarship includes peer-reviewed journal articles, interdisciplinary research collaborations, and applied research that informs both academic literature and professional practice. Her eclectic research program addresses financial reporting standards, auditing practices, teaching effectiveness and student learning in higher education. Bordere's first publication, a study of audit risk, appears in the 2015 volume of Current Issues in Auditing . In the above and other areas, Bordere has experienced several research successes in recent years. Her 2020 article in Internal Auditing examines the f inancial reporting impacts of the coronavirus. That same year Bordere's article in the International Journal of Servant-Leadership  discusses the servant leadership principles covered in the movie Lone Survivor . As Bordere explains, " My research reinforces CSU’s core values. Servant leade...

Turner College management professor Kevin Hurt offers his students a unique research-based approach to graduate education. In addition to assigning academic readings and a research requirement in his MSOL classes, his students are also assigned movies and/or TED Talks to watch, after which they are tasked with diagnosing whether a particular leader demonstrates servant leadership. In completing this assignment, Hurt's students must go beyond a simple "yes" or "no" answer and instead link their perspective back to the academic literature to justify their positions. Students are then graded on how well they defend their positions with the academic literature, not on the correctness of their conclusion. These diagnosis papers yield the additional benefit of stimulating interesting conversations between the students. Hurt's research-approach to MSOL education also extends to the scholarship of teaching . In fact, w hen it comes to conducting research with curren...

Throughout his brief time in the TSYS School, computer science professor Linqiang Ge has worked to achieve and maintain excellence in online teaching,  to ensure student success in the online learning environment, and to retain students in the TSYS School's academic programs. " I've embarked on a journey into online teaching, navigating through virtual classrooms and digital landscapes to deliver quality education to my students," Ge explained to Turner Business . When Ge first t ransitioned from traditional face-to-face instruction to online teaching, he made a significant adjustment in both mindset and approach. For him, that mean embracing digital tools and platforms in order to recreate the interactive learning experience that his students expected. Ge uses many different online teaching strategies to ensure that his students are engaged, satisfied with their instruction, and successful.  The first of these strategies is to develop and maintain a personal rapport...

Over the five different graduate level courses he has taught since the fall of 2024, TSYS School computer science professor Amjad Hossain has consistently aimed to create an engaging and inclusive learning environment that supports student success and active participation. " In my [graduate] courses, students get enough opportunities to learn through hands-on activities. I use multiple assessment methods throughout the semester to evaluate their learning, including programming assignments, quizzes, exams, discussions, and collaborative projects," Hossain explains. Hossain utilizes  ClassPoint, a tool for adding interactive quizzes to PowerPoint, during his graduate course lectures to offer  interactive learning opportunities. He typically asks students to come to the whiteboard and discuss and  derive potential solutions to a given problem. They write programs using Java and Python to solve  small to moderate-sized exercise problems and submit them through ClassPoin...

A recent post here at Turner Business reports that Turner College associate professor of accounting Jasmine Bordere was a big winner at the 2025 CSU Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony, taking home the 2025 CSU Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Award. As indicated there, this award recognizes a faculty member's engagement in the systematic examination of issues about student learning and instructional conditions which promote the learning, building on previous scholarship. The criteria for selection include documented use of strategies for investigating and evaluating the impact of teaching practice on student learning, anchored in the research literature; engagement in scholarship that is public, peer reviewed and critiqued; the production of scholarly work which contributes new questions and knowledge about teaching and learning; the development of a well-articulated teaching philosophy that drives research questions; and documented dissemination of their scholarship results...

A recent entry here at Turner Business looked at business and computer science faculty recognition at CSU's annual faculty award ceremonies. Similarly, this post takes a look back over the first five Turner College faculty award ceremonies of the current decade. As noted in the table below, wherein business faculty are listed in red and computer science faculty are list in blue , there are a couple of multiple award winners in Joshua Brooks , an  associate professor of finance,  and Jennifer Pitts , a  professor of management information systems. Brooks won the Turner College Teaching Award in 2024 and the Turner College Online Teaching Award in 2022. Pitts won the Turner College Online Teaching Award in 2025 and the Turner College Graduate Teaching Award in 2023.     Of the 25 award winners listed in the table above, 15 are Turner College business faculty and 10 are TSYS School computer science faculty. Of the 15 Turner College business faculty, eight are fro...

Turner Business is proud to announce that the winner of the 2025 Turner College Online Teaching Award is management information systems professor Jennifer Pitts . Pitts' impressive winning portfolio emphasizes that her approach to online teaching is grounded in evidence-based practices that support student success and equity in learning. All of her online courses (1) are developed by Quality Matters and Online Learning Consortium standards, ensuring accessibility to meet the needs of all learners, (2) integrate applied, real-world assignments that promote student engagement, critical thinking, and persistence, (3) ensure frequent, intentional interactions through instructor feedback, discussion boards, team-based projects, and formative assessments, and (4) incorporate tools such as Microsoft Teams to facilitate team collaboration and utilize discussion forums for student-student interaction, enabling students to engage in problem-solving and applied learning. Again...

Turner Business is proud to announce that the winner of the 2025 Turner College Research Award is TSYS School computer science professor Rahmatullah Roche . Roche's winning portfolio is quite impressive. In 2024, he published studies on neural and transformer networks in Nucleic Acids Research and Biology Methods & Protocols . Based on ratings provided by Scimago, the first of the outlets listed above is designated as an A-level journal, while the second holds the B-level designation. The previous year, 2023, was just as productive for Roche. Then he published in PLoS Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Advances , another A-level/B-level combination. Roche preceded these achievements with two 2022 publications in Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics , a B-level journal. In 2021, Roche produced a third A-level/B-level combination with his publications in PLoS Computational Biology and Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences , while 2020 arrived with another A-lev...

Turner Business is proud to announce that Turner College accounting professor Charles Boster is the winner of the 2025 Turner College Graduate Teaching Award. Boster teaches accounting in the MBA program, which moved to hybrid teaching schedules in Fall 2024. To accommodate this move, Boster revamped his course, including in- and out of-class activities along with scheduled topics. As part of that process, he added practice exercises to develop application skills for fundamental concepts and altered material sequencing to better align classroom activities and group project deliverables. Learning assessments in Boster's accounting course include vocabulary exercises, calculation exercises, and problem solving. In each case, he takes a formative approach to emphasize learning over grade performance.

Turner Business is proud to announce that Turner College economist Wen Shi is the winner of the 2025 Turner College Teaching Award. In recent years, Shi has actively participated in the Gateways to Completion (G2C) program, the Quality Enhancement Plan, Faculty Writing Fellowship, and Quality Matters design for online courses. She also joined the pilot cohort of CSU's Core Course Design Institution in Fall 2024, attending all 8-week meetings and working productively with the other seven members of the cohort to complete tasks and activities during each session of the Institute. For post-institute implementation, she will work with facilitators, peer mentors, and the department chair to guide the sustained implementation of the ECON 2105 in-person course changes in Fall 2025. Shi has attended more than 60 professional development events in pedagogy, presented for CSU Marching Toward Equity webinar and is schedule to give a talk in the upcoming 2025 USG Teaching and Learning Confer...

TSYS School computer scientist Rodrigo Obando was a big winner at Tuesday's 2025 CSU Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony, taking home the 2025 CSU Teaching Innovation Award. This award recognizes and rewards the efforts of faculty members who develop and practice innovative methodologies in pedagogy. This award showcases the creative innovations of the faculty members that facilitate enhanced learning. This award 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. In his board game design course Obando covers the history of games. In doing so, his students are tasked with quickly creating and testing a simple board game. Additionally, the students ar...

TSYS School computer scientist Linqiang Ge was a big winner at Tuesday's 2025 CSU Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony, taking home the 2025 CSU Excellence in Online Teaching Award. This award recognizes a faculty member's strong commitment to quality online teaching and learning. The criteria for selection include demonstration of teaching, service and scholarly activities designed to advance the quality of online teaching and learning; the use of effective and innovative online teaching practices that result in student engagement, student satisfaction, and effectiveness in achieving desired learning outcomes; and an extraordinary commitment to fostering the academic success of online students through the development of rapport with individual learners in and beyond the virtual classroom. For online courses, Ge records all the lectures and posts the videos on CougarView. He arranges evening time as office hours since many online graduate students have daily jobs. Within the clas...