Welcome to the Coles College Associate Dean semesterly newsletter highlighting the dynamic array of initiatives that your Associate Deans are taking on! We are excited to share with you the strides being made in our student and faculty success initiatives and welcome any input from our dedicated faculty members. From innovative programs to personalized support services, we are dedicated to ensuring that every student and faculty member has the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. 

FALL 2024

From Jomon Paul, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Research and Accreditation:

As the Associate Dean of Research and Accreditation, I am helping to organize a series of important events and workshops to support academic development, research, and collaboration during the 2024-2025 academic year. 

Important Dates to Note:

  • AI Symposium was on August 29 - offering insights into the latest trends in artificial intelligence within the higher education space.

  • Research efforts are prioritized early in the year, with the Working Paper Series (submission deadline: September 6) providing a platform for sharing research ideas. The Summer Research Fellowships (application deadline: September 13) further encourage scholarly work.

  • The Coles – Office of Research event on September 11 assisted faculty in aligning their research agendas with institutional goals.

  • A key event of the year is the AACSB visit from September 29 to October 1 - focusing on maintaining and enhancing accreditation standards.

  • October features the "What's New with Assessment" workshop on October 16 offering updated strategies for academic assessment.

  • Homeland Security Symposium on October 24, addressing current security challenges.

  • Python Workshop on November 6 (for faculty and staff) - aimed at enhancing their data analysis skills.

  • The Clary Seminar Series on November 20 highlights the role of research centers in advancing academic work, with a specific focus on the Center for Professional Selling. 

As the year progresses into Spring 2025, events such as the SPSS Workshop, the Coles-Radow Networking Event, and research awards (under the leadership of the RDC and CFC committees) are scheduled to recognize and support ongoing research efforts. The year concludes with Program Coordinator and Associate Dean meetings in May 2025, focused on improving program coordination and effectiveness.

 

From Khawaja Saeed, Ph.D., Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs:

As the Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, I am excited to continue my journey at Coles College in this new role. Thank you for the opportunity. The undergraduate office has a large portfolio that includes scheduling, student success, curriculum, and advising. For the upcoming academic year, our unit will focus on the following initiatives:

  • Further refine the recommendation of the curriculum task force committee and outline an implementation roadmap. At the start of the semester college meeting, the dean presented this as curriculum task force 2.0.

  • We will be collaborating with the Provost's office and the departments to make progress on the curriculum optimization initiative, which will require us to review all majors at Coles College.

  • Encourage faculty members to utilize the Suitable / D2L Integration. An email on this topic was shared earlier. Examples of events that can be available for credit in the class include Career fairs, ColesFest, Study Abroad sessions, Employer/Sponsor/Alumni networking events, student organization events, Tetley Leadership Series, department speaker series [ISS, SOA, EFQA], skills workshops hosted by the Department of Career Planning & Development.

  • Explore opportunities for a higher level of faculty engagement in the early alert system.

  • Get a better understanding of the data needs of faculty and staff members across Coles College.

 

From Adriane B. Randolph, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Community and Faculty Affairs: 

As the Associate Dean for Community and Faculty Affairs, I am excited to kick off another year of growth and connection within the Coles College! As we continue to nurture sustained programs that foster community, such as our New(er) Faculty Orientation and opportunities to learn from new Coles Champions, we are committed to meeting the evolving professional development needs of our faculty. This year promises to be filled with opportunities for continued learning and strengthening the bonds that make our College thrive. Let's work together to make this academic year one of our most engaged yet! See you around the halls and at the football game in October - Go Owls!

Important Dates to Note:

  • New(er) Faculty Orientation on September 6 and 20.

  • Connected Coles Series: Introduction to AI - Presented by Dr. Michele DiPietro, Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) on October 11.

  • Connected Coles Series: Promoting Critical Thinking with AI in the Classroom - Presented by Dr. Michele DiPietro, Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) on October 25.

  • Coles Champions: Case-Based Teaching - Presented by Dr. Prachi Gala, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Professional Sales on November 15.

 

From Alison M. Keefe, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Graduate Programs:

As the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, my continued focus for the 2024-2025 academic year will be on enhancing the development of our graduate students, staff, and faculty to ensure greater opportunities for professional development. The PNL series kicked off this year with “The Importance of Personal Growth in Leadership” presented by MSHMI alumnus Faisal Saleem on August 23. Many thanks to those who attended. We want to extend the invitation to all our faculty and staff to the Spring 2025 PNL hosted by the Ph.D. Program.

In graduate programs, we will continue our Professional Owl Workshop series to offer networking opportunities, resume-building, interviewing skills, branding, and professionalism workshops. We will also focus more on expanding the availability of Knack Tutoring services so graduate students can now request tutoring help or become tutors to earn extra income. Spread the word to your graduate students! Finally, graduate students will have access to Suitable to earn professional development badges by attending developmental events. We are excited about what’s to come this year!  

Thank you for allowing us to provide more insight on what we do as associate deans for the Coles College of Business. If you would like us to highlight some of the great work in teaching, service, or scholarship that you are doing or would just like to provide feedback on improving our communication, please contact Alison Keefe at akeefe@kennesaw.edu. We welcome your feedback and input. 

 

SPRING 2024

From Adriane B. Randolph, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Community and Faculty Affairs: 

As associate Dean for Community and Faculty, my aim is to enhance community engagement and faculty development in the Coles College of Business.  I hope you will notice earnest efforts to meeting your needs including those shared in the newly-polled Faculty Needs Assessment from this Fall.  Examples include:

  • I am working to provide touchpoints for all of our faculty from brand-new hires to long-time professionals and Fulls. This past Fall, we held a new New(er) Faculty Orientation, collaborated on updates to the College Performance Guidelines, and provided a baseline of understanding of emerging technology in the form of generative artificial intelligence (AI) with the "Introduction to AI" session for Coles facilitated by CETL.

  • This Spring, we have had opportunities to learn how AI is being leveraged in industry with the panel for "Demystifying AI" by the British-American Business Council, "AI at Invesco" by executive Dave Dowsett, and "Promoting Critical Thinking with AI in the Classroom" facilitated by CETL.  

  • Currently underway are two Mid-Career Springboard Nests where faculty are invested in a six-part series to align their personal values with professional goals.  

  • To round out the spring, I will host drop-in sessions for faculty putting together portfolios for various levels of promotion and we will launch a new Dean's Leadership Fellows Program for selected faculty and staff. If you need something, please just let me know!  I sit in the Dean's Suite in BB 260A.  

Some highlighted dates:

  • May 7 | CETL Portfolio Preparation Workshop for Faculty Not on the Tenure Track at 11:00 AM Virtually*
  • May 9 | CETL Portfolio Preparation Workshop for Pre-Tenure and Post-Tenure Review at 11:00 AM Virtually*
  • May 14, 15, & 16 | Dean's Leadership Fellows Program in-person in BB 269 for selected faculty and staff

*Register at https://facultydevelopment.kennesaw.edu/cetl-events/index.php 

 

From Alison M. Keefe, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Graduate Programs:

From career development workshops, networking opportunities, and leadership lunch-n-learns, my focus this year has been on graduate student success and development. Over the years, the continued feedback from the Coles graduate students has been a lack of career services so my mission became equipping our graduate students with the skills and resources needed for success beyond academia. Successes include:

  • This past Fall, we developed the Professional Owl Workshop series in conjunction with the Department of Career Planning and Development providing networking opportunities, resume building and interviewing skills, branding, and professionalism workshops to name a few. These workshops will run throughout the year every year.

  • We also developed the Professional Networking and Leadership series that will highlight graduate program alumni. Our last one of the year, "Mastering the Business of KSU" featured Tricia Chastain, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer for Kennesaw State University and Coles Evening MBA Alum was held on April 11th at the Marietta Country Club. This series will continue next year when we intend to open it to faculty as well.

Whether its interactive career focused workshops tailored to diverse career paths, invaluable networking events connecting students with industry leaders, and insightful lunch-n-learns focused on leadership development, our Coles graduate students will now enjoy our devotion to fostering a culture of continuous learning and empowerment, paving the way for our graduate students to thrive in their chosen fields!

More graduate highlights include

  • A new focus is on tutoring services for graduate students, in partnership with Mona Sinha, Tridib Bandyopadhyay has made Knack Tutoring available. Graduate students can now ask for tutoring help or become a tutor and earn some extra income.

  • We are also in the process of upgrading all technology in the KSU center classrooms to make each a Teams Hub and provide greater flexibility for our students. The Executive MBA program is taking advantage of this upgrade and launching its HyFlex (Hybrid) option this Fall.

  • Finally for our graduate faculty, I’d like to announce a more streamlined competitive process for obtaining a GRA. Each semester, the graduate college will support 8 GRAs at Tier 2 with 5 guaranteed to new and junior faculty and 3 to senior faculty.  The RDC will now take applications starting in April and make GRA selections by May for the Fall 24 and/or Spring 25. We are also developing a graduate student GRA list so the chosen faculty will have an easier time in selecting a GRA. 

 

From Jomon Paul, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Research and Accreditation:

There are several exciting developments in the research and accreditation space for Coles College.

  • We hosted a research networking event with the College of Computing and Software Engineering on March 4. Nine research faculty from each college presented their exceptional work on wide-ranging topics (Startups, Retailing, Mental Health, Obesity, Criminal Justice, Cryptography, Financial Predictive Analytics, etc.) in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cyber Security Domain. The audience included faculty and leaders from both colleges and the Office of Research.

  • We are finalizing content for the tenth issue of our Coles Research Magazine. Ph.D. students, summer research fellows, publication and other research award winners, and Coles College research highlights will be featured in the magazine.

  • Dr. Seth Ketron from the University of St. Thomas presented his marketing research featuring virtual reality as part of our Clary Seminar Series on March 1. It was an excellent engagement with our Ph.D. students and faculty in attendance.

  • Coordinators for all our undergraduate majors, programs, certificates, and minors are actively working to complete the reporting formalities for SACSCOC with March 15 as the deadline. Most if not all stakeholders have used the latest iteration as an opportunity to make the Assessment of Learning exercise a meaningful engagement (with changes that were not limited to new PSLOs, curriculum maps, updated assessment instruments and rubrics, a renewed focus on student success) with student learning outcomes as the primary focus.

  • Similarly, the college faculty in varied capacities has joined hands with the Associate Dean of Accreditation to prepare for our upcoming AACSB accreditation renewal visit in Fall 2024. Reports are due in July 2024.

  • As part of our efforts to prepare our faculty and students to embrace AI, Coles College hosted Dave Dowsett, Global Head of Technology Transformation and Emerging Technologies, Invesco on February 28. SMIF (Student Managed Investment Fund) and FinTech students along with faculty and staff were in attendance and cherished the opportunity to hear about the exciting possibilities and opportunities that AI brings. 

 

From Mona Sinha, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs:

As Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, some of my key responsibilities are Student Success, Curriculum, Course Scheduling, Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Tutoring (Knack and Supplemental Instruction), and oversight of Advising (academic and career-related). Some successes in these areas include:

  • Our Coles Center for Student Success (CSS) runs a 3-series professionalism course with career coaches etc. of about 5,000 students annually.

  • This semester 800 students attended CSS’s Coles Fest and learned about departments/majors, campus resources, and student organizations.

  • SparSolutions and Synovus Bank renewed their annual sponsorship with us for 2 micro-credentialing badges – Professionalism and Communications, and they continue to offer workshops and other opportunities for soft-skills training.

  • CSS hosted a Valentine’s Day Matchmaking event introducing students to student organizations, and has launched a D2L “course” Student Success Toolkit available to all Coles students – a one-stop shop for department and college news, events, announcements, etc.

  • Other CSS events this semester are career-management workshops/webinars, a financial asset workshop, an alumni panel, a FinTech Symposium, career conversations and engagements featuring entrepreneurs, and interviewing and networking skills sessions.

Please consider following the  Instagram and LinkedIn pages of our Coles Ambassadors for Student Success, a student organization aimed at keeping our students abreast of resources, opportunities, and what’s happening at Coles College!