February kept us busy with Homecoming and Alumni Week, Women in Technology Day, and the approval of our student managed investment fund by the Georgia College & State University Foundation Board.

We are pleased to announce the publication of an article by Ward Risvold, Meg Geddy, and myself in AACSB Insights. The article focuses on integrating and leveraging AI in the classroom. As explained in the article, "In our classes, we encourage students to engage in conversations with the bots. Learners discover that GenAI can serve as a tutor, an intellectual sparring partner, and a personal instructor." We continue to think independently and lead creatively in the Bunting College of Business & Technology and are so excited that our faculty and staff are embracing the new frontier of AI.

We especially want to congratulate all of our staff and faculty who received nominations for our faculty and staff appreciation night. Faculty and staff are nominated by senior student athletes to those who have helped them and inspired them along their academic journey. These are the "MVPS" or "Most Valuable Professors and Staff." Congratulations to Nicholas Creel, Aric Wilhau, Jehan Eljourbagy, Nicholas Beadles, Bob Duesing, Eddie Thomas, Scott Cox, Stephen Rutner, Kendra Evans, Kent Hill, Mary Rickard, Ania Rynarzewska, Chris Clark, Brent Evans, Jessie Folk, Neil Jones, Jill Robbins, Ward Risvold, Meg Geddy, Eric Kobbe, Bryan Marshall, Xiaomeng Lu, and Leigh MacLeod. If you see them, please congratulate them on a job well done.

As you will see in this month's updates, we continue to be the state's preeminent liberal arts institution with outstanding accolades and achievements from our faculty, staff, alums, supporters, and students! We are proud of the students who are getting acceptance letters and funding for graduate school and doctoral programs, the travels and presentations of our students across the country, and our faculty who continue to present and publish.

The Georgia College & State University Foundation allocated $100,000 to a new club, the GCSU Student Managed Investments Committee (SMIC). The SMIC provides students with a hands-on experience overseeing a fund that includes all 11 sectors of the S&P 500. In this program, students actively choose and adjust investments based on presentations incorporating various valuation methods. The fund will be actively managed by the Student Managed Investment Committee (SMIC). Investment decisions will be approved by the Leadership Board of the SMIC and the Foundation. This practical experience not only enhances their understanding of finance but also hones their decision-making and communication skills.

The Student Managed Investment Committee has a five-member Leadership Board consisting of Jeffrey DiBenedetto, Joe Dubsky, Grayson Stoudenmire, Halle Bergstrom and Whit Kessinger. There are also ten Manager Directors and 35 Analysts. The faculty advisors are Brent Evans and Eric Kobbe.

Cassie Napier, CoBT Graduate Recruiter, our graduate faculty coordinators, and our graduate assistants continue to engage prospective students. In the past month, we visited Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the Campus & Summer Jobs Career Fair. Our graduate assistants are recruiting for our graduate programs and graduate assistant positions. An area that we are particularly focusing on is our Double Bobcats program, WebMBA program, and Management of Information Systems program. Consider applying for your master's degree through the College of Business and Technology.

Upcoming events include the Middle Georgia Career Fair, the annual etiquette dinner, the Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week, a visit to Dalton State, and the All Industry Career & College Fair.

• The Center met with alum, Raymell Shannon (’86) to introduce her to the Minority Youth in Business Program and invited her to recruit students in Forsyth County.
  
• The Center requested funding from Georgia Council on Economic Education ($4,000) and the Small Business Development Center ($10,000) for the Minority Youth in Business Summer Program.
• The Center met with Joel Robinson and Javier Francisco to coordinate recruitment and offerings with minority recruitment efforts with the Office of Admissions. Javier will circulate information about the program to guidance counselors in the surrounding counties.
• Rui Kang and John Swinton met with Stacey Waller’s K-5 pre-service 40+ students to introduce them to the Georgia Economic Understanding Standards and materials available to them to teach the standards.
• Rui Kang and John Swinton will present lesson plans to Andrea Christoff’s Middle Grades pre-service teachers to address Georgia Economic Understanding Standards for the 6-8 grades.
• Interested in learning more about the Minority Youth in Business Summer Camp Program? Email john.swinton@gcsu.edu

• Plans for the Center’s business startup incubator are coming along, with multiple renovation meetings being held this past month for our designated space in room 119 of the Russell library.
  
• The Center is mentoring student teams for two external competitions this semester: the Global Scaling Challenge out of the University of New Mexico, and the NASBITE International Student Case Competition, in Las Vegas .
• We are readying for the Bobcat Business Builder Bootcamp on March 7th and the Venture Capital Competition on March 29th.
• The Center continues to work on the grant we reviewed from the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation with our first solar design, installation, and green tech entrepreneurship cohort now completed and the second cohort in full swing.
• We are preparing for a green tech job fair for those who complete this workforce development program on March 22nd.
• The Center is involved in a grant workshop for the National Science Foundation, with the hope that this will lead to a 3-year $400,000 grant to expand innovative capacity at the university.
• With the help of Chris Hultquist, the Center recruited two additional board members with extensive experience in entrepreneurship and innovation. These include: Doug Pendergast, Owner of Greene's restaurant in Milledgeville and former CEO of Quizno's and Krystal's; and Pete Morison, Executive Vice President/Minority Owner of Gerber Metal Supply Company.
• The Center met with Natasha Ansley, owner of The Market Basket in Milledgeville to discuss updating the business plan and begin website development. Two graduate students attended the meeting and will participate in this project. We are currently searching for an additional student, along with the help of faculty to complete the business plan updates.
• The Center updated websites for a number of its clients, including K Grace Realty, Georgia Rural Health Association, Near a River, and Bobby J Rae.

• 27 employers and 63 students attended the Department of Accounting & Business Law's Meet the Firms event.
• Susan Manrodt and Beta Alpha Psi visited the Georgia Auditor’s Office and attended a session of the state legislature.
• Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting honor society, inducted 26 members in an event that was sponsored by Hancock Askew & Co. This is largest class of inductees that the department has had.
  
• VITA is continuing its free tax assistance program with our accounting students.

Upcoming workshops

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: March 8th, from 12:15-1:30 in Atkinson 107. During this workshop we will discuss and show gaps, challenges, and opportunities for pursuing scholarly activities and research in the context of advancing equality and social mobility in business.
• Best Teaching Practices: April 12, 2024, from 12:15-1:30 in Atkinson 107. During this workshop we will discuss various best teaching practices in the context of advancing equality and social mobility and creating an environment of inclusiveness in the classroom.

Graduate Acceptances & Scholarships

• Jenna Kelley was accepted into the master’s program for Political Economy at the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (TSE) in Taiwan. She will be fully funded with a stipend value of over $10,000.
• Hunter Patenaude was accepted with funding offers into the Economics Ph.D. program at the University of West Virginia, the University of Texas-Dallas and the University of Oklahoma. Multiple funding offers are over $20,000.
• Sam Herrin was accepted with funding offers into the Economics Ph.D. program at the University of West Virginia, Florida State University and Louisiana State University, among others. Funding offers are in the $26,000 -- $31,000 range.
• Kendyl Lewis was accepted with a funding offer into the Economics Ph.D. program at Florida State University. The funding offer was over $20,000.
  

Economics and Finance Majors at the Academy of Economics and Finance (AEF) Conference

• Connor Hilly presented, “Do Flight Characteristics Affect the Likelihood of Accident Fatalities?” and received an Honorable Mention in the Undergraduate Research Competition
• Grayson Gregg presented, “Does Party School Ranking Affect College Applications?”
• Sam Herrin presented, “Family Size & Happiness-Evidence from the Twin Birth Instrument.”
• Liam Baldwin presented, “Does the HOPE Scholarship Affect College Tuition?”
• Grayson Stoudenmire presented, “Do International Sanctions Affect Bitcoin Price Returns?”
• Josh Johnson presented, “Do ESG Scores Affect Annual Stock Returns?”
• Jenna Kelley presented, Do Congressional Scandals Affect Legislation Sponsorship?”
• Haley Rule presented, “Do Previous Grades Affect Future Parental Restrictions?”
• Additionally, Brooke Conaway was elected as the President of the Academy of Economics and Finance (AEF) at the annual conference on February 7, 2024.

Faculty Publications & Presentations

• Accounting and Finance accepted, “Cultural tightness-looseness and inter-regional M&As: Evidence from China," by Leng Ling.
• The American Journal of Economics and Sociology accepted, "Who claims the federal adoption tax credit? Those who know about it,” by Cullen Wallace for publication.
• Brent Evans presented, “Tools and Guidance at for Teaching Personal Finance,” as part of the Teacher Training Program at the 61st Academy of Economics and Finance Conference.

• Thomas Frye presented, "Neighborhood sorting through parcel acquisitions with negative externalities,” at the 61st Academy of Economics and Finance Conference.

• Cullen Wallace presented, “Marijuana Legalization and Entry into Foster Care,” at the 61st Academy of Economics and Finance Conference.

• Jessie Folk participated in the Teacher Training Program at the 61st Academy of Economics and Finance Conference.
  

• Kelly Lee presented, “After War: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Effects on the Employment Outcomes of U.S. Veterans,” at the 61st Academy of Economics and Finance Conference.
  

• The AI Lab is in full swing! Director Ward Risvold has conducted workshops for AI and Lit Reviews, AI Prompting, Using AI in the Classroom, and conducted five one one-on-one sessions with faculty, assisted with two grants, conducted three Bizcast Podcasts, and hosted its first guest speaker, Mr. Greg Lane Retired CIA Senior Director.
• GC Women in Technology (WIT) and MIS Explores hosted a student panel titled: From the Classroom to Career. It featured four seniors sharing their stories on how they obtained their internships and full-time job offers.
• GC WIT conducted a Grace Hopper Celebration Fundraiser, Kicked Like a Girl, and raised enough money for a conference registration! Also, they hosted "GC WIT Day," with the help of students and faculty Paige Rutner, Jeannie Pridmore, and Caroline Collier. More than 30 GC WIT girls volunteered. The guest speaker, Sundari Parekh of CISO delivered an exceptional keynote presentation.
• The ISCS department hosted its IT Career Fair. We had 15 companies participate, including a new participant: the Secret Service. More than 120 students attended.
• John Huang was invited to serve as the Session Chair at the 53rd Annual Meeting of Southeast Decision Sciences Institute (SEDSI 2024).
• Joy Godin, Ward Risvold, and Jeannie Pridmore submitted an NSF Grant titled Computing for All to the Broadening Participation in Computing program.
• Joy Godin and Jeannie Pridmore earned an SAP Artificial Intelligence Digital Badge.
• Paige Rutner and Joy Godin earned an SAP Build Apps Digital Badge.
  
  

Faculty Publications & Presentations

• John Huang's co-authored article, “Enhancing Management of Diverse Taiwanese Hotels through Machine Learning and Data Mining” has been accepted for publication in IEEE/EI Proceedings.
• John Huang's co-authored conference paper (extended abstract) entitled “Machine Learning Approaches for Misinformation Detection: Review of Recent Developments and Future Research Directions” was accepted for the 53rd Annual Meeting of Southeast Decision Sciences Institute (SEDSI 2024).
• Bryan Marshall and Ward Risvold's coauthored paper was accepted for publication in the Journal of International Business Communication. The article is entitled: Best Practices for Sampling, Saturation, and Storytelling in Interview-Based Research: Findings from Business Communication Research.
• Joy Godin and Jeannie Pridmore have received acceptance for their working paper, Virtual Reality for Team Collaboration, at the European Decision Sciences Institute.

Aric Wilhau co-authored a publication entitled "Rotten Apples in Bad Barrels: Psychopathy, Counterproductive Work Behavior, and the Role of Social Context" in the Journal of Organizational Behavior (Impact Factor (Clarivate) = 6.8). This is an "A" Journal on the ABDC list.

The GC Entrepreneurs Club meeting held a meeting with 40+ students attending a presentation by Doug and Frank Pendergast on the opening of Greene’s Farmhouse Foods restaurant.

Upcoming Event:

Guest speaker, Sarah Segars, Coca-Cola brand manager, will speak to Denny Walton's marketing class on March 5th at 5:30pm in Atkinson 107. The presentation will be on career pathways in marketing journey and strategic marketing approach to launching the latest Coke innovation.