Brief Highlights

Brief Highlights From the Dean's Desk is a monthly roundup of events, accomplishments, and other announcements relevant to the faculty and staff of the Michael J. Coles College of Business. 

January 2025

Coles Alumni Named to 40 Under 40

This week, the Kennesaw State Alumni Association announced its first-ever 40 Owls Under 40 class, with many Coles College alumni making the list. Of the 40 honorees, 13 have degrees from the Coles College. Among the recognized students are professionals working for NASA, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and the U.S. Treasury. Many are also recipients of the Coles College Five in Flight award. This new honor aims to celebrate young alumni who are already making bold strides in their organizations and communities. With KSU’s under-40 alumni network at 47,000 strong, it says a lot about the quality of our graduates that one-fourth of this year’s honorees are from Coles. See the full list of 40 Owls Under 40 here.  

Online MBA, BBA Ranked Among Top in the Country 

U.S. News and World Report’s recently released rankings of the top online programs in the country include some impressive results for the Coles College, with our online MBA and BBA programs being named among the nation’s best. Kennesaw State’s WebMBA ranked as the top program in Georgia and No. 42 in the country, while the online BBA program came in at No. 21 nationally. Online education has become increasingly important to the College as we strive to meet students where they are. With organizations like U.S. News recognizing our work to increase and enhance online offerings, I must thank the faculty and staff managing these programs for their dedication and service.

Aaron Gagnon Named an AACSB Influential Leader

AACSB International has recognized accounting alumnus Aaron Gagnon as one of their 2025 Influential Leaders. Each year, AACSB selects a group of entrepreneurial alumni from AACSB-accredited institutions who bring innovative, impactful ideas and approaches to business and society. Aaron graduated from KSU in 1994 with a degree in accounting and has done some amazing things, including working for Ernst & Young, Abercrombie & Fitch, Apple, and McKinsey. He frequently returns to campus to mentor students and to share his belief in important role that auditors play in business. Read more about Aaron and the AACSB’s Influential Leaders recognition.

MSHMI Program Earns Coveted Industry Certification

The Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics was certified this month by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. CAHIIM is the country’s leading accrediting body for health informatics programs, certifying more than 300 programs nationwide. This certification enhances our MSHMI program’s reputation among other institutions and among the healthcare technology industry. In addition, it allows us to offer CAHIIM certificates to our students, which will provide more career opportunities for graduates. This is an important step for the MSHMI program, the Coles College, and Kennesaw State University.

December 2024

  • Two teams of Coles College Master of Accounting students recently earned first and second place at the 14th annual Institute for Internal Auditors Atlanta Chapter Case Competition. MAcc students Payal Patel, Sydni Farmer, and Jared Wilson took first place and $1,500 each, while the second-place team included Jessica Chapple, Cy Shultz, and Christi Filarski each received $750. The competition tasks students with demonstrating knowledge of internal auditing practices, with this year’s case exploring solutions governments can use to secure ballots during an election. Other schools participating in the competition included Georgia State University, Mercer University, and Dalton State College. Congratulations to our students on their victory and thank you to faculty advisors Doug Sims and Brad Schafer and professional mentors Donna Jackson, internal Audit Manager at DeKalb County, and Lavonne Rashad, an internal auditor at UPS.
  • This month the USG approved the creation of two new concentrations in the Evening MBA program: Business Intelligence and Rural Management. Launching in Fall 2025, the Rural Management concentration is the first of its kind in the country. Rural management involves solving challenges around sustainable agriculture, building and maintaining infrastructure, and ensuring access to healthcare, education, and employment. KSU’s MBA program was inspired to launch this concentration after learning of the challenges the City of Talking Rock, Ga. faced when it lost its mayor and, ultimately, its fire designation. KSU’s new Rural Management MBA will help rural communities find and keep strong leadership and improve the quality of life for its residents. Read more about the new concentrations.
  • Marketing Professor Prachi Gala participated this month in a seminar at Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai to discuss the effect that artificial intelligence is having on the marketing industry and on marketing education. Prachi’s presentation focused on AI’s transformative potential in marketing, spanning student engagement, teaching methodologies, and innovative research practices. She discussed research she has conducted about AI’s influence on decision-making, personalization, and consumer behavior. Prachi’s invitation to speak at this event, which included academics from around the world, is hopefully the first stage in further collaboration between KSU and HCT, and is a reminder that the Coles College is becoming an international thought leader on the business and educational impact of emerging technologies like AI.
  • The Coles College hosted its third cross-discipline Marketing Innovation and Technology Strategy Competition last month. Thanks to the support of the case sponsor The Atlanta Braves, this year’s event was bigger than ever with 31 student competitors. Organized by the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales, Department of Information Systems and Security, the Kennesaw Marketing Association, and the Business Technology Club, MITS brings together students across disciplines to explore ways of leveraging Web 3.0 technologies to create innovative marketing plans. As this year’s case sponsor, The Atlanta Braves asked students to develop strategies for using Digital Truist Park – an online version of the Braves stadium – to enhance fan engagement. Congratulations to students Joey Van Sickle, Natalie Sanderson, Kailah Brown, and Salama Repole for taking first place. Read more about MITS.

October 2024

  • For the sixth year in a row, the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program has been recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the top programs of its kind in the world. The magazine called out several of the MEBUS program’s standout features, including their ten-year relationship with Sixthman, which sees students develop marketing plans for real music festivals, and their continuing partnership with the Dolby Institute to train students on the latest audiovisual technologies. Billboard once again sang the praises of the MEBUS program’s annual London education abroad experience, where students meet with executives from Sony Music Entertainment, Abbey Road Studios, Universal Music Group, and more. Learn more about this honor and see what other amazing music business schools we’re listed alongside at Billboard’s 2024 Top Music Business Schools.
  • Two dozen of the Coles College’s strongest sales students stepped into Atlanta’s fastest elevator this month to sell their personal brands at the TK Elevator’s third annual Elevator Pitch Competition. Held at the company’s testing facility in Northwest Atlanta – the impressive building overlooking Truist Park – the friendly competition saw members of the Sales Team have one minute each to pitch themselves to TKE executives while in a glass elevator traveling 420 feet in the air with a video camera in their faces. Congratulations to student Emily Shelton for placing first. The participants trained for weeks, preparing their personal statements and refining them during several 7:00 am training sessions. Thanks to Professional Sales Lecturer Brent McCulloch for organizing this event for the third year in a row and providing an opportunity for students to participate in an exciting event that lets them hone a valuable skill in an unforgettable setting. See local news coverage of the event!
  • How are destructive disinformation campaigns spread? What can organizations do to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats? How does war impact access to healthcare? These questions and more were addressed at the 2024 Coles Research Symposium on Homeland Security, where a multidisciplinary collection of students from across campus and faculty from across the country came together to discuss threats facing the country and the world. The event was the sixth research symposium hosted by the Coles College, and included presenters from Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, West Point, University of Texas at Dallas, Clemson, and Verizon. They shared research on organizational cybersecurity, game theory, plant-level security threats, healthcare access, and more. Thanks to Jomon Paul for once again for curating the symposium and helping make the Coles College a destination for homeland security research.
  • Emory Gary, a student in the MS-Fintech program took the top prize of $1,000 in a recent pitch competition held by Fintech Atlanta and the Georgia Fintech Academy. At the Run it By the Buyers Juniors Pitch Competition, three teams of finalists from USG schools were invited to the Home Depot corporate headquarters to pitch their fintech business ideas to a panel of potential buyers. Emory, who currently works as a technical support specialist for Berkshire Hathaway, took the top prize with his pitch for a company called RaiseUp/RiseUp. Emory beat out students from Georgia State University and the University of Georgia. The Run it By the Buyers Junior Pitch Competition was sponsored by the Georgia Fintech Academy and the University System of Georgia.

September 2024

  • The Digital Marketing Institute, one of the largest marketing industry certification bodies in the world, has accredited the Master of Business Administration program’s Foundations of Digital Marketing Course. This course is the key component of the Evening MBA program’s digital marketing concentration, which teaches students key marketing concepts like customer behavior, data analytics, and international marketing. The DMI accreditation means that all MBA students who complete the Foundations course now earn an industry-recognized DMI certification, demonstrating their mastery to businesses and marketing firms worldwide. I want to thank Prachi Gala, digital marketing concentration lead, or working alongside DMI to earn this distinction.
  • Chunxia Zhang and Melissa Anne (MAC) Cunningham-Sereque, two students in the Ph.D. in Business Administration Program, each represented our College admirably at separate international workshops held late this summer. Chunxia attended the 2024 Ph.D. Summer School at the University of Liverpool Management School, where she explored research methodologies in Operations and Supply Chain Management and presented her research proposal. Meanwhile, MAC attended a week-long Executive Education course at the London School of Economics, focused on Behavioral Economics and the Modern Economy. Both students were able to participate in these experiences thanks to the direct funding support of the Ph.D. program, which emphasizes professional and academic development among its students.
  • Within the last month, the Coles College has hosted two events further establishing its position as a leader in the business and educational applications of technology: the “AI in Higher Education” Symposium and the cybersecurity community event, BSides Atlanta. Held in late August, “AI in Higher Education” saw researchers, students, and AI industry professionals come together to discuss the applications of generative AI in the classroom and its role in business. BSides Atlanta was held in mid-September. The event, organized at the grassroots level by local members of the cybersecurity community and sponsored by the Coles College, included panel discussions, industry demonstrations, and live cybersecurity competitions. Thanks to Jomon Paul and Andy Green, chief architects of “AI in Higher Education” and BSides Atlanta, respectively,  for their tireless work in making these important events a reality.
  • The Keynote presentation at this year’s America’s Small Business Development Center national conference featured the founders of Elf on the Shelf, a business launched 19 years ago with the aid of the KSU SBDC. Elf on the Shelf co-creators and co-CEOs Christa Pitts and Chanda Bell were interviewed by Drew Tonsmeire, area director for the KSU SBDC, serving as the conference’s keynote presentation. About 1,500 people attended the event and heard Chanda and Christa’s amazing journey and how their product line – valued at $100 million – would not have happened without the SBDC’s guidance.

July 2024

  • After months of working alongside faculty and staff across the College to compile information for our AACSB re-accreditation report, it brings me great excitement to announce that we have this week submitted the Continuous Improvement Reports for the College and School of Accountancy. Totaling more than 1,000 pages of facts, figures, and narratives, the reports are a true highlight reel of the College’s accomplishments over the past five years. From explosive enrollment growth and the launch of new academic programs to increased industry engagement and student success activity, compiling the reports has put into perspective how many amazing things the College has accomplished since 2019. While compiling this report has been a group effort, I want to give a special thanks to Jomon Paul who has helped guide the re-accreditation process from the beginning. Now that the report has been submitted, our focus will be on preparing for the AACSB site visit this fall. Thank you again to everyone for all your hard work.
  • The Coles College MBA and EMBA programs have both earned some high-profile recognition in the last month from the Princeton Review and Fortune Magazine, respectively. The Princeton Review ranked KSU No. 30 in its Top 50 Online MBA Programs feature, while the EMBA program ranked No. 46 in Fortune Education’s list of the Best Executive MBA Programs for 2024. The Princeton Review ranked Kennesaw State’s Online MBA Program as the top program in Georgia. Meanwhile, the EMBA program was ranked third in Georgia by Fortune Education. Both rankings reveal the continued success of our MBA and EMBA programs and their ability to provide exceptional value to professionals looking to enhance their careers.
  • A new scholarship endowed by the Atlanta Broadcast Advertising Club will soon be available to Coles College marketing students. The ABAC has generously endowed a scholarship worth $30,000 to provide financial support to students in the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences and in the Coles College of Business. Specifically, Coles College marketing students will be eligible to apply for this scholarship. In recognition of the ABAC’s support, the University will contribute an additional matching gift of $20,000 from the KSU Foundation as part of KSU’s Scholarship Endowment Challenge, meaning the scholarship will have $50,000 available to support students. Established in the 1960s, the ABAC serves as a group providing networking and educational support for professionals working in all facets of the Atlanta media industry.
  • Last month, Kennesaw State University and the Coles College of Business lost one of its greatest supporters with the passing of Ron Bullock. Ron had been with the University for more than 20 years, serving the last five years as operations manager for the School of Accountancy. He was a dedicated member of the team who always went the extra mile for our students and his fellow staff. Whether taking time out of his schedule to organize the Staff Senate or working diligently each semester to help new students find their way on campus, Ron never missed an opportunity to advocate for others. It was my pleasure to present Ron with the Spirit of Coles Award in 2021 and the Award for Service, Dedication & Commitment in 2023. Ron’s contributions to the Coles College are immeasurable, and his absence will be felt for many years to come.

May 2024

  • As we reflect on the end of another academic year, I want to thank all the faculty and staff who attended graduation to celebrate the students who became new alumni this month. It’s an exciting experience to watch our students move on to their next successes. This year’s commencement included a few notable graduating cohorts, including the first-ever graduates of the Master of Science in Digital Financial Technologies program as well as the 15th graduating cohort of the Ph.D. in Business Administration program. I think this encapsulates something that makes the Coles College so special, which is our dedication to creating new and innovative programs while establishing a legacy of excellence. Congratulations to all of our new graduates and to you, the faculty and staff who supported them throughout their journeys.
  • More than 100 students, educators, and professionals from across the country traveled to Kennesaw this month for the first-ever Conference on Advances in Business Doctoral Education. Hosted by the Ph.D. in Business Administration program, the event was the first conference of its kind, which invited academia and the business community together to discuss the future of doctoral business education. Topics included strategies for recruiting top faculty, the impact of artificial intelligence, and the importance of encouraging students to be critical thinkers. Students and faculty from 20+ higher education institutions attended the conference, which also included a doctoral consortium where students from KSU and other schools solicited feedback on their research. I want to thank Conference chairs Saurabh Gupta and Divesh Sharma – as well as the support team from the Ph.D. department and Dean’s Office – for making this event a success and for putting the Coles College at the forefront of the discussion into doctoral business education’s future.
  • The Hospitality Management Program recently took a break from teaching hospitality to provide some of their own when they hosted the second annual Hospitality Management Gala and Awards Ceremony last month. Held at the Marriott & Springhill Suites, Atlanta Northwest, the event was a celebration of the program’s graduating students as well as the corporate and community partners who have helped the young academic program thrive. Students received awards for academic excellence, leadership, and for being ambassadors for the program. In addition, valuable partners like Auro Hotels, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, and many others were honored for dedicating their time and resources to creating opportunities for students to learn more about the hospitality industry firsthand. The gala was a beautiful event that celebrated our students and our partners. Congratulations to Leonard Jackson and his team in the Leven School for organizing this celebration.
  • Last month, the Department of Information Systems and Security hosted the second annual Apps for Wellbeing Hackathon, which saw 150 students compete in a two-day event to develop apps designed to improve users’ mental health. In its second year, the Apps for Wellbeing Hackathon has become one of the largest events of its kind on campus. Using the Mendix no-code platform, student teams developed a variety of unique apps, including one that helps people identify and join nearby support groups and another that assists users in tracking and managing their moods. First place went to linKS, a social app designed to help students connect on campus by sharing schedules and events. This app was developed by Matai Blain, Saramyah Stewart, Saba Mabood, Cameron Colton, and Salini Ambadapudi. Organized by Dominic Thomas and a team of student volunteers, the Apps for Wellbeing Hackathon is an amazing way for students to gain experience honing their app development skills while also tackling the very real mental health crisis.  

April 2024

  • The Coles College hosted the third annual Future of Payments digital payment seminar this month. Students, faculty, and fintech industry leaders from across Georgia attended the event to discuss current trends in digital payment as well as to look at the career potential for young people entering the field. Supported by sponsorships from The Georgia Fintech Academy, the American Transaction Processors Coalition, and Truist, the day-long event included panels on artificial intelligence, digital currencies, emerging trends, and more. A highlight of the event was the Career Conversations portion that saw more than 30 students have one-on-one conversations with fintech executives to find out about their career journeys and to explore how to begin their own. This event has continued to grow over the past three years and is positioning Kennesaw State as a leader in fintech research and scholarship.
  • Fourteen economically disadvantaged Atlanta-area residents now have the tools to improve their lives and their communities after completing the Coles College and Must Ministries’ Aspiring Community Entrepreneurs program, which hosted its first graduation this week. Held at the Must Ministries offices in Marietta, the graduation featured four members of the ACE program’s first cohort sharing how the program helped them overcome challenges and launch or grow their businesses (including a cleaning service, a nail salon, a beauty supply provider, and a non-profit benefiting members of the neurodivergent community). The graduation comes at the end of a seven-month process that saw the participants completing a bootcamp on entrepreneurship, working alongside mentors to develop their business plans, and partnering with Kennesaw State students to help execute those plans. Each ACE student received a certificate of completion and a $500 grant to continue expanding their enterprises. Watching this first ACE cohort flourish has been immensely rewarding, and I cannot wait to welcome future cohorts into this impactful program.
  • For anyone who hasn’t yet nominated members of the Coles College alumni community for a Five in Flight award, I have extended the deadline to May 30th. While we have received some great nominations already, the extension gives faculty, staff, students, and fellow alumni more time to submit deserving alumni. Five in Flight is the Coles College’s exclusive alumni award program, presenting alumni with awards for Graduate of the Last Decade Undergrad, Graduate of the Last Decade Graduate, Early-Career Entrepreneurship, Late-Career Entrepreneurship, and Societal Impact. As the year is winding down, I encourage you all to take some time to make a nomination. Nominate alumni for Five in Flight today.  
  • It was wonderful to see all the students, faculty, and staff who came out to our Spring 2024 Tetley event this month with Eddie Meyer. Eddie shared his professional journey with the students, using that as a springboard for offering valuable advice to aspiring young leaders. Eddie is a Gulf War veteran, a Marine Corps Captain, and a graduate of the Naval Academy, where he excelled in football. In his professional life, Eddie has led a stellar career that includes being a current Executive Vice President at PNC Bank. Our students were so taken with Eddie’s leadership advice and magnetic personality, that they stayed behind well beyond an hour after the event to continue speaking with him. Eddie was more than happy to oblige. Thank you all for helping continue to make the Coles College Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series an important, can’t-miss event for our students.

March 2024

  • There’s still time to nominate exceptional alumni for the 2024 Five in Flight awards. The deadline to submit nominations is April 19th. This is the second annual Five in flight ceremony, which recognizes five exceptional Coles College alumni who have experienced success in their careers, as members of their communities, and as representatives of the College’s core values. All Coles College alumni are eligible for a Five in Flight award, and anyone in the community can make nominations. The award categories include: Graduate of the Last Decade (Undergraduate), Graduate of the Last Decade (Graduate), Early-Career Entrepreneurship, Late-Career Entrepreneurship, and Societal Impact. I have no doubt you all know some truly outstanding alumni. Nominate one (or more) today and help Coles College find its Five in Flight. Nominate an alumnus for a Five in Flight Award.     
  • Jocelynn Galvan, a student in the Master of Accounting program, was recently selected to receive a fellowship as part of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s postgraduate technical assistant program. She will spend the summer working alongside senior members of the FASB and will gain real-world experience in every aspect of the accounting standards setting process. The FASB’s PTA program is a recognized stepping stone towards meaningful careers in accounting, with past participants now working as leaders at Big 4 accounting firms, Fortune 500 companies, and even the Federal Reserve. I want to congratulate Jocelynn and thank all the MAcc faculty who supported her and provided glowing recommendation letters that helped put her over the edge.
  • Kennesaw State University’s Giving Day event is coming up on April 17th. I encourage all faculty and staff to consider making a contribution that day. Not only will you be helping create additional opportunities for our students, but all contributions up to $1,000 will be matched, meaning your gift will make double the impact. While helping students is the primary reason you should consider participating in Giving Day, the event also provides the chance for a little friendly competition. The Coles College currently has the second-highest percentage of faculty and staff who donate to the College. A strong showing on Giving Day could put us over the edge into first place. So, regardless of the amount, anything you give will count towards increasing our giving percentage, even if it’s just $2. I hope you will all join me on April 17th in elevating our students and elevating our rank! Visit the KSU Giving Day Page.
  • CEO Magazine has released its 2023 Global Executive MBA rankings, and once again has ranked the Coles College Executive MBA the top program in Georgia and one of the top in the country. Meanwhile, they ranked the online MBA program in the global top 50 and named the Ph.D. a premiere program. This is the eighth year in a row the Coles College’s Executive MBA program has earned the top spot in Georgia, and the tenth year it’s been labeled a Global Tier One program. CEO Magazine rankings are based on quality of faculty, faculty-to-student ratio, international diversity and exposure, class size, accreditation, professional development, work experience, gender parity and instruction methods. It is always wonderful to see our grad programs continuing to earn national and international recognition.

February 2024

  • The Coles College is now accepting nominations for the 2024 Five in Flight alumni awards, with the ceremony scheduled for Nov. 6th. Five in flight recognizes five exceptional Coles College alumni who have experienced success in their careers, as members of their communities, and as representatives of the College’s core values. All Coles College alumni are eligible for a Five in Flight award, and anyone in the community can make nominations. The award categories include: Graduate of the Last Decade (Undergraduate), Graduate of the Last Decade (Graduate), Early-Career Entrepreneurship, Late-Career Entrepreneurship, and Societal Impact. I have no doubt you all know some truly outstanding alumni. Nominate one (or more) today and help the Coles College find its Five in Flight. Nominate an alumnus for a Five in Flight Award.
  • The American Multiethnic Coalition has named Sweta Sneha, executive director of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatic program, as one of its Top 20 Global Women of Excellence in 2024. Sweta will receive the award next week at the 12th annual AMEC and MEATF Congressional International Women’s Day Celebration at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The honor includes being presented with an award by U.S. Congressman Danny K. Davis and a medallion from U.S. Senator Mike Braun. Sweta was chosen for being an ardent supporter of women’s rights, gender parity, and women empowerment. Please join me in congratulating Sweta for this incredible honor.
  • The Student Managed Investment Fund once again took first place in the CFA Institute’s 2023 Southern Classic Research Challenge. Students Brandon Goff, Katty Hernandez, John Longshore, Miguel Rodriguez and Noah Criman took home the $1,500 prize and will advance to the sub-regional competition. During the Southern Classic, students are asked to examine a publicly traded company and present their report to a panel of experts. Our students competed against peers from Auburn, Clemson, Mercer, and University of South Carolina. Thanks to all the faculty who helped our students shine, including advisors Troy Harmon and Eli Hogan and board chair Govind Hariharan. Congratulations everyone!
  • Higher Education Review Magazine has named the Coles College of Business to its recently published list of the country’s Top 10 Promising USA Business Schools in 2024. The piece highlights U.S. business schools that standout in several ways, including their ability to respond to industry trends, the knowledge of their faculty, the strength of their alumni networks, and much more. In addition, February issue of HER also published an article from Associate Dean of Graduate Programs Alison Keefe on the Coles College’s commitment to experiential learning, research, and its evolving curriculum. Check out the February 2024 issue of Higher Education Review Magazine.   

January 2024

  • Season two of the Coles College of Business’s official podcast, Building Bold Connections, is out now. The latest episode features MBA student Tracey Graves discussing her time in the Peace Corps, her activism, and her work with the Aspiring Community Entrepreneurs Program. Tracey, who is also a working actor, discusses helping establish the Josephine Wright foundation, named after her late grandmother who died recently while embroiled in a legal battle with developers on Hilton Head Island. The high-profile fight has garnered the attention of national news and celebrity supporters. To see host Tyra Burton’s conversation with Tracey, and to be the first to see new season two episodes releasing bi-weekly, visit the Building Bold Connections YouTube Channel.
  • At the end of 2023, the Coles College welcomed two new members to the executive leadership team. Jomon Paul earned the role of Associate Dean for Research and Accreditation after serving in an interim capacity, while the College welcomed newcomer Renee Bourbeau as executive director of MBA programs. Jomon has been with the Coles College for more than 17 years and has held many positions including professor of quantitative analysis, director of research and assessment, and course lead in the MBA program’s business intelligence certificate program. Renee comes to KSU from Emory University, where she served as the director of master’s programs for the Goizueta Business School. Thank you to everyone who served on the search committees for these positions, and to Jomon and Renee for everything they have done and will do to grow the Coles College of Business.  
  • Seven students in the Hospitality Management program recently earned a key industry certification as part of their coursework in the newly launched hotel real estate finance and asset management course. Earning the certification prepares them for leadership positions across the hospitality industry. The students each earned their Certified Hotel Appraiser designation, which is often required for those wanting to work in hotel real estate valuation and development. The CHA designation is so important, that studying and sitting for the certification exam is baked into the course, with that section co-taught by Steve Rushmore, founder of Hotel Valuation Services, a hotel valuation consulting form with 47 offices around the world. Building important industry certifications directly into coursework is an excellent way to help students leverage their time at college to get a head start launching their careers.
  • Hundreds of students packed into the Carmichael Student Center recently for the 2024 Coles Showcase to learn about the wide variety of services available to them around the College and around the campus. With more than 800 students in attendance, this was the biggest Coles Showcase in the event’s five-year history. In addition to Coles College academic departments and student organizations, campus resources like Education Abroad, Student Leadership and Service, and CARE Services were available to field questions about the support they offer. Thank you to everyone at the Center for Student Success for building the Coles Showcase into a major College event that is clearly meeting the needs of our students.

November 2023

  • More than a dozen high-tech startups launched by Kennesaw State students and alumni were the highlight of a recent Entrepreneurship Showcase organized by the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. The gala event, held at the Fifth-Third Stadium Suites, was part of InnovATL2023, a Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce initiative that included several events this fall around Atlanta shining a spotlight on the city’s wealth of entrepreneurial talent. Each of the 13 student and alumni owned business featured at the showcase has received financial support from RDSEIC’s Mookerji Innovation Fund. The owners met with members of the Atlanta business community to discuss their businesses and give live demos of their products and services. Among the businesses was Generalized Robotics, developer a 360-degree smart camera for police patrol cars, Apex Innovations, developer of a virtual reality system for training plant workers to use heavy machinery, and ESI, a pioneer in wearable exoskeletons to help athletes better train, just to name a few. This successful event was an excellent opportunity to show off the hard work of our entrepreneurial students as well as the level of support they receive from our amazing Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center.
  • Stephanie Stuckey, chair of the iconic Stuckey’s brand of roadside convenience stores and associated snacks, spoke with Coles College students this month as part of the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series. She shared her remarkable story of revitalizing her family business’s brand that had languished under a series of outside owners who oversaw the company’s contraction from 300+ stores in the 1960s to only a handful in the 1980s. Stephanie discussed how she spent her life savings buying the brand back and then implemented bold ideas like bringing back the company’s classic 1960s packaging, partnering with existing convenience stores to carry their product, and merging with a candy manufacturer to gain greater control over production and distribution. Students learned a great deal about leadership and management from Stephanie’s story. While on campus, Stephanie also met with President Kat Schwaig and recorded an upcoming episode of the Coles College podcast, Building Bold Connections.  
  • This month I had the honor to induct two longtime Kennesaw State supporters – Tommy Bagwell and Lori Kaczynski – into the Coles College Hall of Fame at a lovely ceremony held at the Jolley Lodge. Tommy and Lori are both heavily invested in the success of our students. Through scholarships, advisory board positions, and generous endowments, both have donated considerable time and resources to helping our students experience personal and professional success. Tommy, who has already made a name for himself around campus through his support of the Bagwell College of Education, is also a valuable supporter of our College’s Education Economics Center and the namesake of the Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity. Lori, an alumna of our accounting program, has served on the School of Accountancy’s advisory board for more than 20 years. A first-generation college student, she was a founding member of our Beta Alpha Psi Honor Society chapter, which has gone on to gain national acclaim. I encourage you all to visit the updated Hall of Fame installation outside the Dean’s Suite to learn more about this year’s inductees.
  • Whether it’s in internal auditing, business ethics, or professional selling, Coles College students distinguished themselves over the past month in a series of outside student competitions that put their classroom knowledge to the test on a statewide, and even global, stage! The Student Managed Investment Fund competed in the CFA Society Ethics challenge, finishing below the winning Emory University Team. Later in the month, Master of Accounting Students took 2nd place in the Institute of Internal Auditors Statewide Auditing and Advisory Case Competition. At the International Collegiate Sales Competition in Orlando, KSU took 7th overall, with our students finishing in the top ten for sales roleplay, 2nd in our bracket in case management, and 3rd in speed-selling. Congratulations to these students for representing the Coles College so well and for the faculty advisors who worked hard to prepare their students to excel in these competitions.

October 2023

  • For the fifth year in a row, the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program has been recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the top programs of its kind in the world. The magazine called out several of the MEBUS program’s standout features, including the program’s annual education abroad trip to London featuring meetings with executives at Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, bringing on John Mayer guitarist David Ryan Harris as artist in residence, and entering into a partnership with the Dolby Institute – the educational arm of the audiovisual technology company – to create new educational opportunities for students. Each of these bold moves serves to expose our students to more of the entertainment industry and prepare them for the broad range of careers within. To read more about the MEBUS program and to see a list of the other prestigious music business programs were are in the company of, check out Billboard’s 2023’s Top Music Business Schools.
  • The importance of cybersecurity, the need to strengthen logistics networks, and the connection between social inequities and negative outcomes from disasters were some of the topics highlighted at the Coles College Research Symposium on Homeland Security. For the fifth year in a row – minus 2020 – the College invited top academic minds from Kennesaw State and institutions around the country to share their research on issues affecting the safety and security of people around the world. Invited guests included faculty from Georgia Tech, Augusta University, University of Michigan, and University of Buffalo. The event also included a student poster session, with KSU students presenting research on strengthening the work of entry level coders, protecting medical data from attack, and the success of efforts to teach cybersecurity to high school students. Thanks to Jomon Paul for organizing this event and to Coles faculty Andy Green, Aniruddha Bagchi, and Leo MacDonald for presenting.
  • Last month, I shared details about the creation of the Aspiring Community Entrepreneurs program alongside MUST Ministries. Today, I’m happy to announce that the first cohort of 22 participants graduated from the first phase of the program. The participants – all economically disadvantaged members of the local community – completed the initial six-week bootcamp and will now move on to more personalized business development, including a three-month mentorship period with area business leaders, and then a four-month period working with Coles College entrepreneurship students to get their new ventures past the finish line. The ACE program held a graduation ceremony last week recognizing the participants’ determination. As the first cohort moves on to the mentorship phase, the variety of business ideas the participants have is exciting. A skin care company, cleaning services, arts and craft suppliers, and several nonprofits are examples of the business ideas that will help lift the participants out of poverty. I am excited to watch this first cohort of ACE graduates use the skills they have learned to improve their lives.
  • Faculty from the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales this month hosted 17 students from Germany’s BMK College for Media and Communications as they learned first-hand secrets about the American advertising industry. While on campus, the German students attended multiple marketing classes at the Coles College and visited several Atlanta-area businesses to see how they solve marketing challenges and develop strategy. Following the success of this visit, marketing faculty Jennifer Hutchins will lead an education abroad experience in May where she will accompany a group of Kennesaw State students to Hamburg, Germany. The students will visit BMK and have their own opportunity to immerse themselves in a foreign country’s advertising industry. I am so happy to see the relationship between BMK and the Coles College continue to grow, and I look forward to more cultural exchanges with our German peers. 

September 2023

  • Earlier this month, the Coles College and our partners at MUST Ministries welcomed the first cohort in the Aspiring Community Entrepreneurs program, a new initiative designed to help economically disadvantaged people improve their lives through entrepreneurship. The backbone of the ACE program is a six-week course taught by faculty in the Coles College, who teach participants the concepts and practical skills to start and grow new small businesses. In the spring, participants will work with Coles College students in a consulting class to develop marketing materials, bookkeeping systems, and other business essentials. The ACE program, which is affiliated with Notre Dame’s Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, is the perfect way for the Coles College to leverage its exceptional entrepreneurial education to help our local community.
  • Anyone who has stepped into the Immersive Visualization Environment co-run by Information Systems Professor Max North knows how impressive the space is. After a piece on the facility ran on local news station Atlanta News First, now the entire city does! Max recently hosted an open house where he invited members of the KSU community and the media to check out the research space with its 8-foot-tall, 210-degree curved screen that can be used to give researchers a panoramic view of their work. The IVE is a collaboration between faculty at Coles College, the College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Some of the work already done there includes researching distracted driving and training pilots to fly planes.  Check out the ANF story here.
  • Faculty from the Coles College joined colleagues from the WellStar College of Health and Human Services earlier this month in Prillaman Hall for a daylong networking event designed to reveal ways educators from both colleges can work together. The event was co-hosted by Jomon Paul, Coles College’s Interim Associate Dean of Research and Accreditation, and his WellStar counterpart Mark Geil. With each presenter having 10 minutes to share their work to the group, the day provided a great opportunity for faculty at both colleges to learn about each other’s research and explore ways to apply business theory to healthcare research and vice versa. I hope the Coles-WellStar networking event signals the beginning of even more cooperation between our college and all our neighbors across campus.  
  • Retired management professor Kamal Fatehi, who has for years been a tireless advocate for international experiences among our students and faculty, has received a Fulbright Specialist Program award to complete a project at Hassan II University of Casablanca in Morocco. There, he will work with the host institution to explore new avenues for partnerships that benefit their school, KSU, and communities at home and abroad. He is one of 400 U.S. citizens chosen each year to participate in the Fulbright Specialist program organized by the U.S. Department of State to foster international cooperation. Kamal has received several Fulbright awards in the past, including a scholarship in 2020 to teach in Romania. Congratulations Kamal!

August 2023

  • The Home Depot co-founder and former CEO Bernie Marcus will headline the next event in the Coles College’s flagship Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series. Bernie will host a live virtual event on Wednesday, September 20 from 12:30 to 1:30. He will be joined by Catherine Lewis, KSU’s assistant vice president for Museums, Archives, and Rare Books, who will help guide the discussion. Catherine co-wrote Bernie’s new book, Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing it Yourself, which has given her great insight into Bernie’s journey from humble beginnings to launching one of the country’s most well-known brands and ultimately to his current life as a philanthropist. I hope that you will all encourage your students to attend and learn about Bernie’s incredible entrepreneurial story. 
  • More than 400 students came out to the Carmichael Student Center for ColesFest this week, where they met with representatives from around the College and the University to learn about all the services, programs, and resources available to them. Our academic departments and student organizations were joined by colleagues from financial aid, the library system, global education, and more with the shared goal of demonstrating to our students that college is not something they do alone – they have a village supporting them. Thanks to the Center for Student Success for organizing this amazing event and to everyone who showed up to share information – and giveaways! – with our engaged Coles College students.
  • Shelby Wilkes, a longtime friend of the Coles College and a graduate of the Master of Business Administration program, was recognized this month by the KSU AlumnI Association, who presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award. Since graduating from the MBA program in 1989, Shelby has been a committed partner to our College and the University. Shortly after graduating, he formed the Black Alumni Society, was its first president, and continues to be involved with the group to this day. Shelby also established the Wilkes/Burnett Black Alumni Society Scholarship with his wife and was a 2018 inductee into the Coles College Hall of Fame. A vitreoretinal surgeon, Shelby is the owner of Atlanta Eye Consultants.
  • The rise of artificial intelligence is creating uncertainty across society, and the classroom is no different. At the Coles College’s recent symposium, AI in the Business Classroom, faculty learned how they and their students can use AI ethically. Organized by Jomon Paul and Justin Cochran, the AI symposium invited speakers from within the College as well as institutions like UGA, Hult International Business School, and even Ernst and Young to discuss the role of AI in education. A common theme of the presentations was that, rather than banning the use of AI chatbot tools by students, faculty can require students who use them to disclose it and list the steps needed to edit the output into usable material. The speakers also reinforced the importance of continuing to teach students to understand the tasks that AI can automate, which will allow them to better work with the technology. This fascinating academic conference demonstrated how AI will augment – not erase – traditional education models.

July 2023

  • Accounting professor Mary Hill is part of a team that has been recognized by the American Accounting Association with its Innovation in Financial Accounting Education award. The award is in response to Mary’s ongoing project of allowingthat allows her students to play an active role in the U.S. accounting standards setting process. For three years, Mary has guided her Master of Accounting Students in the process of drafting official responses to accounting standards changes proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. She has co-authored a report on the project alongside colleague Gary Taylor from the University of Alabama and FASB board member Christine Botosan. The three will officially receive their award next month at the AAA’s Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Midyear Meeting in Denver. With the AAA boasting a quarter of its membership from outside of the country, this award is an international achievement for the School of Accountancy, the Coles College, and Kennesaw State.  
  • A multidisciplinary research project with a Coles College connection has partnered with Cobb County emergency services departments to work on new technology to help first responders correctly addressrespond to mental health emergencies. Information Systems Professor Dominic Thomas has been working with researchers in the College of Computing and Software Engineering and WellStar College of Health and Human Services on the project, which includes working ondeveloping an interactive dashboard for 911 call centers that will allow first responders to route calls that require a mental health professional to the appropriate people. One of the main goals of the project is to help emergency services better handle the 30 percent of calls that typically require mental health intervention. Learn more about this groundbreaking project.
  • Leadership from India’s Auro University visited campus this month to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Coles College, which will lead to joint projects between the renowned hospitality institution and our own hospitality management degree program. Auro University’s president and founder H.P. Rama and its chief operating officer Suresh Mathur met with me, hospitality management program director Leonard Jackson, and director of advancement Laura Southern to discuss plans for faculty and student exchanges. Auro students will visit KSU for 1-2 weeks while they are in the U.S. completing their required internships. Meanwhile, KSU students will participate in an education abroad experience to India hosted by Auro. This agreement will help two outstanding hospitality program enhance their global footprints.
  • As many of you already know, there have been several leadership changes in the College this summer. I’d like to take this time to once again remind the faculty and staff about some of these transitions. First off, I’m excited to have Dennis Marrow join the Dean’s Office as the new Assistant Dean of Administration and Operations. after successfully managing the MBA program for several years. MBA Assistant Director Meghan Roessler is serving as interim director. Justin Cochrane has become the executive director of the newly renamed Coles College Leadership Scholars, with Stephanie Miller accepting the position of assistant director.  Deborah Mixson-Brookshire replacing himwill replace Justin as director of online programs. We also have two new interim department heads, with Khawaja Saeed stepping in as interim chair of the Leven School and Keith Tudor serving as interim chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales. I hope you will join me in welcoming these individuals into their new roles as we begin the 2024 academic year.

June 2023

  • As I’m sure you’ve all seen by now, the Coles College lost a valued member of its family with the passing of management and entrepreneurship professor Paul Lapides. During his 22 years with Kennesaw State University, he worked tirelessly to push for greater accountability in the classroom and the boardroom. He was a founding member of the Corporate Governance Center, which conducts research on the best practices for rules and processes to manage organizations. He was recognized as a leading expert in the field by Corporate Board Member Magazine, published numerous articles, books, and textbooks, and was a frequent contributor to national publications and television and radio news programs. In an email I sent out yesterday, you should have received details on how you can donate in his honor to help fight Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia if you would like. While Paul left KSU eight years ago, his legacy will live on.
  • Nearly 50 students attended a recent career-building workshop hosted by the Center for Student Success and consulting firm SPAR Solutions. Called “Me in 30 Seconds,” the event provided students with an opportunity to learn about personal branding and receive help in building their own elevator pitches. While the summer semester is typically quiet on campus, this event was a massive success with lines stretching down the hall as students waited for their chance to practice their 30-second elevator pitches with members of the SPAR Solutions leadership team. It was wonderful seeing so much student activity during the summer. Congratulations to the Center for Student Success for putting this together. And thank you to our partners at SPAR Solutions – which is also sponsoring this year’s Flight Academy professionalism badge – for working to help our students develop the soft skills that will help them succeed in their careers.
  • The Marietta Daily Journal recently published a story examining the local impacts of the global rise of artificial intelligence. Drew Tonsmeire, area director for the Small Business Development Center at Kennesaw State, and Reza Vaezi, associate professor of information security and assurance, are both quoted in the piece. Drew discussed how the popular chatbot ChatGPT has been integrated into successful business technology DynamiX to help create customer business plans. Meanwhile, Reza described AI as a boon for modern workers as it frees them up from having to perform repetitive tasks, but he warns that decision makers and middle managers may soon find their jobs replaced by AI. Check out the MDJ article, ‘Cat’s out of the bag:’ AI making its presence known in Cobb’ for more on AI’s influence on the workplace. In addition, the Coles College is hosting a symposium in August on AI’s impact on the classroom. See below for more information on that.   
  • During a recent panel discussion on methods state and local governments can take to keep children safe on social media platforms like Tik Tok, ISA assistant professor Andy Green encouraged lawmakers to focus more on digital literacy and less on outright bans. During the session, which was part of the GovExec State and Local Government Tech Summit, Green argued that statewide bans on Tik Tok like the one Montana recently implemented do not get to the root of the problem and may even be unconstitutional. Rather than relying on bans, Andy suggested it’s better to teach children how to recognize and respond to threats rather than simply hope they never encounter them. Check out Digital literacy, not bans, should shape states’ approach to social media for more from Andy and other technology experts on the issue of social media safety.

May 2023

  • Some of the Coles College’s most distinguished alumni were honored this month at the inaugural Flight alumni awards. Held on campus at the KSU Center, the event was an excellent celebration of our alumni’s accomplishments and of the value a degree from the Coles College of Business brings to its students. Ashley Nealy, a double owl with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in information systems, took home the Societal Impact Award for her tireless efforts to encourage African Americans to participate in clinical trial research in greater numbers to end the disparity in representation. She currently works as an assistant director of support services for the Department of Treasury. Janna Pruiett, senior technical support engineer at VMware and graduate of the Information Security and Assurance and Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics programs, was named Undergraduate Graduate of the Last Decade, while Master of Business Administration alumnus Reco McCambry earned the Graduate GOLD Award. He is president and CEO of fintech firm Novae. Finally, the fifth winner is our very own ISA professor Andy Green, who received the Owl Award for Outstanding Service. He is an alumnus of the IS and MSIS programs. Thank you to everyone who nominated alumni and helped make our inaugural Five in Flight ceremony a success.
  • Three Coles College students were invited to Wisconsin in April to present at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research hosted this year by University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where more than 3,500 students from around the world gathered to promote undergraduate research, scholarship, and creativity. First-Year Scholars Benjamin Buxton and Matt Hammer presented the paper, entitled “Why are Restaurant Firms Going Private? Going Private Transactions and Stock Returns of Restaurant Firms,” co-authored by fellow first-year scholars Celina Duong, Juan Gonzalez and Lauren Pedersen. The students conducted this research under the mentorship of Hospitality Professor Melih Madanoglu. I am grateful to Melih and to the Office of Undergraduate Research’s First-Year Scholars Program for giving our students this wonderful opportunity.
  • Heidi Walker, a current student in the Master of Business Administration program, recently took first place in the Cougar Pitch Competition hosted by Columbus State University. First prize was $3,000, which Heidi will use to grow her toy company, Mommy & Me Toys. In addition, Heidi received a $1,000 scholarship to the business incubator, StartUp Columbus. Heidi will work with StartUp Columbus for 12 weeks, receiving guidance on how to position her products to thrive in mainstream retail. Mommy & Me toys sells faith-based dolls and action figures. The company’s newest toys, My Pray and Play Pal and My Pray and Play Action Pal, are currently in the prototype stage. It is amazing to see one of our students applying the skills learned in her MBA courses to grow her own business.
  • As the Dean’s Office welcomes Mona Sinha as our newest associate dean, we are also preparing to say farewell to Lisa Duke, who has accepted a position as President Kat Schwaig’s chief of staff. Both women are going to do exceptional things in their new roles. Mona has been a member of Kennesaw State’s marketing faculty since 2013 – via Southern Polytechnic State University – and has served as interim associate dean for the past 16 months. In that time, she has spearheaded initiatives to enhance graduation rates, increase access to tutoring, and encourage students to participate in undergraduate research. Lisa joined Kennesaw State in 2004 and worked in several roles in the University before becoming Coles College’s assistant dean in 2017. In addition to leading several critical functions in the College, Lisa was instrumental in our 2019 AACSB accreditation process. I am looking forward to working alongside Mona to create opportunities for our students, and working with Lisa to help implement the president’s vision for Kennesaw State.

April 2023

  • CEO Magazine has released its 2023 Global MBA Rankings and, once again, the Coles College’s Executive MBA program is ranked the best in the state, one of the best in the country, and among the best in the world. Meanwhile, our Ph.D. and MBA programs also earned impressive rankings in the feature. This is the seventh year in a row that CEO Magazine has ranked our EMBA program higher than any other in Georgia. The magazine also listed the program as third in the country, 12th in the world, and, for the ninth year in a row, recognized it as a Global Tier One Program. In addition, CEO Magazine ranked KSU’s MBA program a Tier One program, named the online MBA among the best in the world, and named the Coles College a premier Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) provider for our Ph.D. program.
  • It was wonderful seeing so many of you supporting our student researchers at the recent Spring Symposium of Student Scholars. Fourteen Coles College students spread out over five project teams presented research at the event hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research April 20th in the Convocation Center. Our students researched a broad range of topics including how businesses can avoid being targeted by ransomware attacks, an examination of increased privatization in the restaurant industry, and a report on how students are using the open source Octoprint platform to make 3D printing more accessible on campus. I appreciate the efforts of faculty mentors Andy Green, Govind Hariharan, Hossain Shahriar, Dominic Thomas, and Melih Madanoglu in helping motivate our undergraduate students to get excited about conducting research.
  • Dozens of the top players in the financial technologies space visited Kennesaw State earlier this month and spoke directly with our students as part of the second-annual Digital Payments Seminar. Students from KSU and other nearby universities attended the event and networked with representatives from companies like Truist, Synovus, and Ernst & Young. While the event was the second fintech conference the Coles College has hosted, this was the first time we held the event in person. This meant students could learn from and interface with these industry leaders directly. The event also included a career fair and a job-pitch event, where students received guidance on pitching their personal brands to prospective employers. Kudos to the ISS Department, the Center for Student Success, the Office of Creative Communications, and everyone who worked to make this event a success.
  • After months of work between KSU’s Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing, the Coles College Dean’s Office, and each of our academic and administrative departments, the Coles College of Business launches its new website on Thursday, May 4th. The project began nearly two years ago when the University set out to redesign the KSU website to make it easier for prospective students to learn about academic programs and apply to KSU. I want to say thank you to all the directors and their staff who, during the last several months, helped the process along by reviewing and updating their site content. Once the new site launches next week, I encourage you all to take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the updated navigation. This has been a massive undertaking and we’re excited for everyone to see the work that’s been going on behind the scenes. If you have any questions about the new site, please reach out to Patrick Harbin’s team at pharbin3@kennesaw.edu.

March 2023

  • Entrepreneurs Mark, Ryan, and Lauren Wilson will share their unique perspectives on what it means to build a business from scratch when they headline the next event in the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series on April 19th in Prillaman Hall 1000. Mark Wilson is the founder and CEO of Chime Solutions, a successful business process outsourcing firm focused on employing people in underserved communities. His children Lauren and Ryan have the same drive to create businesses that help others and have carried it to their own enterprises. Lauren recently launched software-as-a-service employee scheduling technology Imin, while Ryan is co-founder of The Gathering Spot, a nationally recognized home for creatives, professionals, and entrepreneurs. Please have your students join us for this amazing panel discussion moderated by Mark Hiatt, executive director of the Kennesaw State Family Enterprise Center. Register Now for “It Funs in the Family: Generational Perspectives on Entrepreneurship.”

     

  • First-year students Saarthak Bhatia and Joel Smith gained valuable research and presentation experience this month when they were invited to speak alongside hospitality professor Melih Madanoglu at a recent academic conference in Orlando. The students are mentees of Melih who were paired with him as part of the Office of Undergraduate Research’s First-Year-Scholars Program, which sees first-year students apprentice with faculty and postdoctoral researcher mentors to develop and understanding of the academic research process. It’s a valuable program that motivates students to pursue undergraduate research. Melih and the students presented the paper, “Branding Scope, Internationalization and Financial Performance of U.S. Restaurant Firms,” at the 2023 conference of the Southeast, Central, and South American Federation of the Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education. Hopefully the experience at the conference – and in the First-Year Scholars Program – creates in the students a career-long passion for academic research.
  • Sweta Sneha, executive director of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics Program, and Melih Madanoglu, Michael A. Leven Endowed Chair and Professor of Hospitality, were each recently recognized by their peers inside and outside the University. At an awards ceremony this week, Sweta was named the Technology Association of Georgia’s Tech Leader of the Year in the Government/Education/Non-Profit category. The award honors tech professionals, “who are driving our innovation economy forward.” Meanwhile, Melih learned this week that he will be honored by Kennesaw State University at next month’s annual Faculty Awards banquet, where he will receive the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award. Congratulations to Sweta and Melih and to all our faculty who distinguish themselves in their fields.
  • The Student Managed Investment Fund took first place in the CFA Institute’s 2023 Southern Classic Research Challenge. Students Andrew Olsen, Cain Beatty, Claudia May, Hudson Anderson, and Justin Waters took home the $1,500 prize and will advance to the Americas Region Semifinals next month. During the Southern Classic, students are asked to examine a publicly traded company and present their report to a panel of experts. The focus of this year’s event was homebuilder PulteGroup, the competition’s sponsor. Thanks to all the faculty who helped our students shine, including SMIF board member Tom Miller, advisor Tom Garr, and board chair Govind Hariharan. Congratulations everyone!

February 2023

  • Coles College majors Austin Harvey and Nicole Brock are two of the amazing students featured in a recent profile of Kennesaw State University students of color in honor of Black History Month. The theme of the piece is how our students are making history today. Austin is a marketing major and entrepreneur who owns a consulting business helping young professionals build their resumes and explore new career opportunities. He is also president of the Tau Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, and former president of African American Male Initiative. Nicole is studying international business who has already visited 14 countries. Among her accomplishments is serving as president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and is a member of the National Council of Negro Women. You can learn more about Austin, Nicole, and several other high-achieving students by checking out History Makers: Current KSU Students are Making Their Mark.

  • Ben Scafidi has been named by Gov. Brian Kemp to the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, which will give him a direct role in the management and future of Georgia’s charter school system, which includes 49 schools and 50,000 students. As a member of the commission, Ben will review petitions for new charter schools, vote on renewals for existing schools, and help set policy for the commission. This appointment is the latest step in Ben’s 30+ year career researching K-12 education. In addition to publishing research on topics like the effects of income inequality on education and what factors motivate K-12 teachers to remain in the profession, Ben is also the director of The Education Economics Center, which conducts non-partisan research on education policy and school choice. Ben has made it his life’s work to support student education, and this appointment allows him to affect change directly in the classroom.
  • Michelle Gethers grew up in public housing and was the first person in her family to graduate high school or go to College. Today, she is a powerful member of the c-suite at Visa. Michelle recently shared her inspiring story with students at the first Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series event of 2023. Michelle, who serves as Visa’s Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Corporate Responsibility, has had a career that included working as a CPA, running her own internal audit firm, climbing the corporate ladder at American Express, and serving as an award-winning CEO for the United Way of Greensboro. She encouraged Coles College students to only do work they are passionate about, not to be afraid to take demotions to learn new skills, and to always make themselves heard at meetings. By following her ideals, Michelle landed in a position that allows her to affect change on a global level. Her hope is that others can follow her example to find personal and professional fulfillment.

  • The first class of students in Kennesaw State’s new Master of Science in Digital Financial Technologies program began their coursework in the fall. Among them are longtime finance professionals, people pivoting into new careers, and everything in between. One student, Devendar Bukya, works in financial information technology at a consulting firm. He sees the new fintech degree as a way to better understand the financial transactions his company processes. Another student, Ross Colona, works for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury as the director of local government finance. For him, the degree will help him be a better steward of the state’s money and help defend against cybersecurity threats. Devender and Ross are a small sample of the wide variety of students who are turning to the MS-Fintech program to gain knowledge and skills around the emerging digital payments ecosystem. Check out Kennesaw State’s new Fintech master’s degree is right on the money, students say to learn more about the program and Devender and Ross.

January 2023

  • Michelle Gethers, the Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Corporate Responsibility for Visa, is our first Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series speaker of 2023. She will speak in Prillaman Hall 1000 on Feb. 15th at 2:30. An accomplished, respected leader, Michelle will share with students what she has learned about leadership throughout her 30-year career as well as her insights into how leadership will continue to evolve in the future. Michelle began her career as an accountant for a law office before moving to American Express, where she eventually became Vice President and General Manager of Card Services. She recently concluded an 8-year run as President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Greensboro, a role which saw Triad Business Journal name her one of the most admired CEOs of 2017. Please encourage your students to attend this valuable event and learn about the next generation of leadership. RSVP to The Next Level: Perspectives on Leadership Now and into the Future.

  • The Coles College of Business’s new podcast, Building Bold Connections, is bringing eight Atlanta-area business leaders onto your smartphone, tablet, browser, or television all semester long. New episodes release every other Tuesday on the official Building Bold Connections YouTube Channel. If you prefer audio podcasts, you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. The show, hosted by marketing lecturer Tyra Burton, features 30-minute conversations with exciting professionals about how they’ve used creative thinking to solve professional challenges. Guests include Chase York, group sales account executive for the Atlanta Falcons, Audrey Hall, chief product officer of Brightwell; H. Walker, diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Boys and Girls Clubs of America; and college namesake Michael Coles. Special thanks to the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program and its students for their support engineering the show and to Keith Perissi for lending us his broadcast-ready voice. Visit the Building Bold Connections Homepage.

  • Sweta Sneha, executive director of Kennesaw State’s Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics, has been recognized by Titan CEO as one of the top 100 CEOs and C-level executives in Georgia. Sweta and the other Titan 100 will be honored April 27th at a ceremony at Zoo Atlanta. Titan CEO is a national program recognizing powerful leaders in business across the country. In addition to the ceremony, members of the Titan 100 also receive several networking opportunities throughout the year. This is the first time in the organization’s three-year history that someone from Kennesaw State University has been named to the Titan 100. Congratulations to Sweta for her efforts to grow the MSHMI program and enhance Kennesaw State’s prominence in the region.  

  • When MBA student Jake Rice was drafted to play for the Arizona Diamondbacks, he vowed to not let his success as a professional baseball player stand in the way of his degree. And now, as he completes a sales internship with landscape supply company SiteOne, he has stayed true to his word. Rice joined KSU in 2021 on a baseball scholarship to pitch for the Owls and began pursuing his MBA with the goal of having a sales career. During his first season – which saw him throw a team-record 79 strikeouts – he was drafted by the Diamondbacks to play for their minor league team. After moving across the country, Jake switched from the evening MBA program to the WebMBA program and is expected to graduate later this year. Jake said his main goal is to ensure he has options once his professional baseball career ends. Jake’s story speaks to the bond our students often form with the University and to the strength of our program offerings. Read more about Jake Rice’s story.

November 2022

  • Members of the Professional Sales Team recently stepped into one of the city’s fastest elevators with executives at TK Elevators to pitch their personal brands as part of an elevator pitch competition hosted at TKE’s North American Headquarters in Atlanta. The friendly competition saw more than 30 members of the Sales Team have one minute each to pitch themselves to TKE’s executive vice president of sales as potential new hires. If that wasn’t stressful enough, they had to do so in a glass elevator traveling 420 feet in the air with a video camera in their face. Congratulations to marketing student Avani Shah for placing first. The top three contestants each took home LEGO statues of TKE’s tower fastened to pedestals printed in the Coles College’s 3D printing lab. This exciting collaboration is the most recent example of the Center for Professional Selling’s dedication to developing its students and to nurturing meaningful relationships with top Atlanta-area companies.

  • New revelations about the effectiveness of female entrepreneurs, examinations of how CEOs think, and a look at the effects the COVID-19 pandemic have had on the overall healthcare system are some of the exciting research papers published in recent months by faculty in the Coles College of Business. Birton Cowden, academic director of the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, published his study, “The Gendered Effects of Effectuation,” in the Journal of Business Research. Meanwhile, assistant professor of marketing Prachi Gala’s paper, “Exploring the Dark Side of Integrity: Impact of CEO Integrity on Firms’ Innovativeness, Risk-Taking and Proactiveness,” can be found in the European journal of Marketing. Finally, assistant professor of Weiwei Chen was recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care for her paper, “COVID-19 Surges and Hospital Outcomes in the United States.” Each of these papers expands our understanding of business (or healthcare!) from angles unexplored by other researchers.

  • Cybersecurity took center stage at last month’s Coles College Research Symposium on Homeland Security, where a multidisciplinary collection of students from across campus and faculty from across the country came together to discuss threats facing the country and its infrastructure. The event was the fourth research symposium hosted by the Coles College, and included presenters from Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, Case Western Reserve University, Mississippi State University, and University of Madison-Wisconsin. Research topics ranged from the evolution of security threats since 9/11 and the military’s increased cyber defense capacity to using game theory to understand human conflicts. The event also featured graduate and undergraduate researchers sharing their research on data security, privacy, supply chain software vulnerability and more. Thanks to The Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity and the Education Economics Center for co-sponsoring the symposium.
  • Congratulations to our Student Managed Investment Fund and our Professional Sales Team for excellent performances at recent national – and international – events, specifically the Student Managed Investment Fund Consortium Conference and the International Collegiate Sales Competition. At the SMIFC Conference in Chicago, KSU SMIF students Amitai Illan, Eric McCart, Mambaye Diagne, and Cain Beatty placed second in the conference’s performance analysis and poster session competition. Meanwhile, the ICSC was recently held in Orlando, where Professional Sales Team students Ximena Alonso Garcia and Thomas Rowen took first in the case competition, while Micah McEntyre earned first in the speed selling competition. Our roleplay team of Ethan Laudato and Amanda Carr finished 13th out of 80 schools. Both events gave Coles College students the opportunity to excel on the national stage, and they did not disappoint.

October 2022

  • Don’t miss your chance to let one – or more – of our exceptional alumni know that we are proud of everything they’ve accomplished. The deadline to nominate alumni for the new Five in Flight awards is today. All alumni are eligible for Five in Flight, and anyone in the community can make a nomination. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to take a moment to nominate some of our forever owls in the following categories: Graduate of the Last Decade (Undergraduate), Graduate of the Last Decade (Graduate), Early-Career Entrepreneurship, Late-Career Entrepreneurship, and Societal Impact. Help the Coles College show are alumni that we recognize their value. Nominate an alumnus for a Five in Flight Award.   

  • As most of you know by now, a Coles College student was among the 150+ people who died last weekend during a deadly crowd surge at a Halloween celebration in Seoul, South Korea. Steven Blesi was an international business major spending the semester abroad, something he had dreamed of doing for a long time. As we and our students process this tragedy, it’s important for everyone to know that Kennesaw State University has resources to help. The University offers 24/7 counseling and support services available at 883-874-0013. If any of your students who are studying abroad need to talk to someone, there is an international line at +44-20-8987-6588. Please encourage anyone to take advantage of these services if needed.
  • Like a great song you listen to again and again, the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program has once again made the Billboard Magazine list of the top college music business programs in the world. The MEBUS program has been featured in this list since 2018 – only not appearing in 2021 because the magazine did not publish a listing that year. Citing the exceptional access students get to the entertainment industry professionals and the experience helping produce full-scale events like the MEBUS mixer, Billboard listed KSU and MEBUS alongside prestigious schools like NYU, Berklee College of Music, and Abbey Road Institute. The MEBUS program is an exciting, unique program that is gaining global recognition for preparing young people for careers in every facet of the entertainment industry.
  • KSU marketing students Feyisola Odejimi, Cynthia Quiroz, and Sophie Schohan will travel to the Warner Bros. Discovery campus in Atlanta during March Madness to learn more about the intersection of marketing and technology. The students won first place in the Marketing Innovation and Technology competition hosted by the Department of Information Systems and Security and the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales. Warner Bros. Discovery Sports sponsored the event and provided the case study, which asked students to explore ways the company could use NFT – or nonfungible tokens – to enhance their marketing efforts during March Madness. The winning students gained valuable experience learning how technology and marketing are related, and will get to see that relationship in action when they visit Warner Bros. Discovery Sports in March.

September 2022

  • Nominations are now open for Five in Flight, the Coles College of Business’s newest alumni recognition award. At a ceremony this spring, the College will honor five exceptional alumni who have experienced success in their careers, as members of their communities, and as representatives of the College’s core values. All alumni are eligible for a Five in Flight award, and anyone in the community can make nominations. The award categories include: Graduate of the Last Decade (Undergraduate), Graduate of the Last Decade (Graduate), Early-Career Entrepreneurship, Late-Career Entrepreneurship, and Societal Impact. I have no doubt you all know some truly outstanding alumni. Nominate one (or more) today and help the Coles College find its Five in Flight. Nominate an alumnus for a Five in Flight Award.    

  • The Coles College is hosting some big names in the hospitality and healthcare industries for this fall’s Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series events. H.P. Rama, chairman of Auro Hotels, and Shane Jackson, president of Jackson Healthcare, will be speaking on campus on Oct. 19th and Nov. 10th, respectively. H.P.’s incredible journey began in the kitchen of a Howard Johnson hotel and has now brought him to the head of an organization overseeing 37+ hotels from major brands like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. Meanwhile, as president of one of the nation’s largest healthcare staffing firms, Shane Jackson has faced several critical leadership challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I encourage you and your students to attend both events and learn how these two outstanding leaders have risen to the top of their fields. RSVP Now for H.P. Rama’s Tetley Event.

  • I hope everyone remembered to RSVP for President Kat Schwaig’s investiture, which will be held Oct. 13th at 1:00 in the Convocation Center. Kat has been a Coles College faculty member for many years and was an incredible leader as our dean. It would mean a lot to her – and to me – if the Coles College showed up in a big way to support her. While Kat officially became president in March, presidential investitures are among the oldest traditions in higher education still practiced today. The ceremony, modeled after old English knighting ceremonies, is an important part of the process of welcoming a new University president. Anyone interested in learning more about the ceremony or about KSU’s sixth president, please check out the KSU Presidential Investiture Homepage.

  • This is a reminder that the Center for Student Success has moved to Kennesaw Hall. Please make sure that your students know that all of the Center’s services are still available, with academic advising now housed in KH 1314 and career coaching/internship advising in KH 1002. The Center for Student Success has done a great job reaching out to students and faculty about the move, but there will always be those who missed the message. Please remind your students about the move and let them know their advisors, career coaches, and everyone else in the Center for Student Success is ready to assist them from Kennesaw Hall in accomplishing their academic goals.

August 2022

  • As the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy celebrates its 40th birthday, the highly respected journal has put together a piece ranking the top 25 most influential articles in its 40-year history. The list includes three Coles College faculty: Marcus Caylor, Dana Hermanson, and Rich Clune. Marcus’s paper, published in 2006, was ranked No. 5, while an article co-written by Dana and Rich in 2005 was ranked No. 22. JAPP is a prominent academic journal with a rating of A from the Australian Business Dean’s Council. The authors ranked each of the 800+ articles ever published in the journal based on the number of times they were cited in other articles. This ranking is only the latest reminder of the high quality of research being conducted by our faculty in the School of Accountancy and across the Coles College.

  • During the last year, faculty, staff, and students in the Coles College have had the chance to really see what the College’s new 3D printing lab can do. It’s common to see custom-printed owls, promotional giveaways, and t-shirts as you walk the halls of the Burruss Building. It seems that I’m not the only one who has taken notice. The University recently published an experience page highlighting 3D printing labs across campus, including the one on the fourth floor of our building. I highly recommend checking out the story, which includes some amazing video captured in the space. If you haven’t visited the 3D printing lab yet, this feature will make you want to change that. See the 3D Printing Experience Page.

  • Economics Professor Marcus Marktanner recently returned from Indonesia, where he taught a post-graduate course on the topic of Social and Ecological Market Economy. The five-day visit took him to the island of Lombok, the largest island in the West Nusa Tenggara province, where he worked with students and was a guest on a Ministry of Home Affairs video podcast. During the interview, Marcus answered questions about Indonesia’s changing economy. Marcus’s opportunity to teach in Indonesia was sponsored by Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Paramadina University in Jakarta, and the Ministry of Home Affairs. I have no doubt that the students in the course and the audience of the podcast benefitted immeasurably from interacting with an educator of Marcus’s caliber. See the full video of Marcus’s podcast appearance.

  • I’d like to take this opportunity to remind our faculty and staff that the Dean’s Office is always eager to learn more about our alumni successes. We have many channels where we amplify these stories (newsletters, our website, social media channels) and are always looking for more to feature. As you interact with former students and learn about exciting promotions, professional projects, valuable volunteer work, etc., I ask that you forward those updates to pharbin3@kennesaw.edu. We are looking for alumni who truly embody what it means to be a successful Coles College graduate. With your help, those stories can help inspire the next generation of exceptional alumni.

July 2022

  • The National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Community has recognized Kennesaw State with an Outstanding Outreach Award, ranking the University No. 1 in spreading cybersecurity best practices and encouraging students to work in the industry. Efforts like the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, the annual cybersecurity conference, the high school capture the flag event, and frequent faculty workshops all contributed to KSU earning this honor, as did the very active outreach efforts of the Offensive Security Club. None of these outreach activities would be possible without the extraordinary work of the Department of Information Systems and Security, the Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development, and our partners across campus.

  • Accounting student and Student Advisory Board member Dana London has thrived in her job as lead student facility manager for the Carmichael Student Center, so much so that she was recently named to the board of trustees for Advancing Campus Community, an international association dedicated to enhancing student life on college campuses. Only one student is selected each year to serve on ACUI’s board, making this a great honor for Dana. An international student herself, Dana represents thousands of students from the U.S., Australia, Ireland, Qatar, Bermuda, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Dana, who also interned with Ernst & Young this summer, believes the experience with ACUI will prepare her to succeed in leadership positions during her professional career. Read more about Dana London’s story.

  • Students in the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program can gain inspiration to pursue their career goals every time they look at the walls in their building thanks to a recent donation of music industry memorabilia from the program’s namesake, entertainment attorney Joel Katz. Among the pieces in the collection are autographed photos, gold records, and actual musical instruments played by famous musicians like Michael Jackson, James Brown, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson, and Justin Timberlake. The collection illustrates the wealth of opportunities available to students in our MEBUS program and will serve as a great motivator. Check out the collection for yourself.

  • The faculty of the Coles College of Business are all experts in their fields who are frequently quoted in the media to provide context to current event stories. I enjoy using this forum to highlight these media appearances from time to time. Faculty recently quoted in the press include Ben Scafidi, who discussed the effects of economic inequality on educational equality; Roger Tutterow, who shared his thoughts on recent interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve; Duanping Hong, who appeared in a story about his research on career outcomes of rejected CEO candidates; and Russell Spears, who is quoted in a WalletHub piece about customer service in the car insurance industry. This is not an exhaustive list of our faculty in the media, but it does paint a picture of the breadth of topics that Coles College educators regularly offer commentary on.

June 2022

  • A business supported by the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center’s Mookerji Innovation Fund recently entered a deal with Lanier Technical College worth more than $20,000, becoming the first fund recipient to deliver a commercial product. Apex Innovations, owned by engineering alumnus Brennan Vitek, develops virtual reality software that trains workers on ammonia refrigeration machinery. The contract with Lanier Tech is to provide software for between 400 and 500 students, and is valued at $22,000 plus a per-student fee. Brennan has received $7,500 from the EIC’s Mookerji Innovation Fund, which helped him cover early payroll costs and buy his first round of VR headsets. He began working with the center two years ago while taking an entrepreneurship course on Marietta campus. Today, he continues to work with the RDSEIC to grow his business. Many thanks to our generous donors and to the support of all involved at the RDSEIC!

  • Information Systems professor Adriane Randolph recently returned from Vienna, Austria, where she and one of her Ph.D. students presented a research paper on the security threats surrounding the no-longer science fiction world of brainwave technology. Adriane and doctoral student Rosemary Tufton spoke at the NeuroIS Retreat in Vienna, held June 14-16. Brainwave technologies can identify ways to potentially enhance the lives of people with conditions limiting their mobility and communications skills. However, Adriane and Rosemary’s research looks at how the technology – which involves making a map of the user’s brainwave patterns – could potentially lead to security and privacy concerns if those patterns were stolen. They hope their research motivates businesses using this technology to implement safeguards to protect user’s private data. While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement brainwave technologies generate around improving people’s lives, this research underscores the need for ensuring the technology is used responsibly. Read more about Adriane's research.

  • The Leven school recently unveiled a new certificate program in entrepreneurship at a joint social entrepreneurship event between the Coles College, WellStar College, and other campus departments. Launching this fall, the undergraduate certificate is available to students of any major. Students pursue the certificate in one of five tracks: social entrepreneurship, business, sports management, health innovation, and music and entertainment business. Additional tracks will become available later as the Coles College partners with more colleges across campus. Leven School director Steve Phelan has been a champion for this new initiative, saying it’s an important step in helping graduates embrace the innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of entrepreneurs regardless of where their careers take them. Read more about the event and the new certificate.

  • After five years of exemplary work building relationships with Coles College alumni and community partners, Senior Director of Development Seth Walker has recently accepted a leadership position at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Seth, who has increased alumni giving by 200 percent during his tenure and has helped generate millions of dollars in contributions to the College, will be SIUE’s vice chancellor of university advancement and the CEO of the SIUE Foundation. While we regret saying goodbye to someone who has been a powerful advocate for the Coles College, I’m sure great things are in store for Seth in his new role. The next time you see Seth – he can always be found at Coles College events and around the Burruss Building cultivating relationships – be sure to offer your congratulations.

May 2022

  • Congratulations everyone on another successful academic year, which concluded last week with a commencement ceremony that saw 652 students earn their degrees and officially begin their new journeys as Coles College alumni. Commencement Day was full of several activities honoring our graduates and other students, including the first Beta Gamma Sigma honors society induction since Fall 2019. We inducted 44 students into the society, which accepts students at AACSB-accredited institutions in the top 10 percent (undergraduates) and 20 percent (master’s) of their class. Our own alumnus Allen Chen, a management graduate who now works as a senior vice president and diversity and inclusion executive at Bank of America, was the honorary inductee and guest speaker at the Beta Gamma Sigma event. Now that another academic year is in the rearview, I invite everyone to have an amazing summer and I look forward to an equally successful 2022-2023 year!
  • Coles College faculty members Tyra Burton, Thomas Garr, and Cristen Dutcher were recognized recently at the Kennesaw State University annual faculty awards ceremony. With the University giving out nine awards, Coles College faculty received one-third of all awards given! Thomas, a professor in the Department of Economics, Finance, and Quantitative Analysis, earned the Outstanding Part-Time Teaching Award, while Cristen, a professor in the School of Accountancy, received the Outstanding Online Teaching Award. Tyra, a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales, won the Outstanding Teaching Award. The fact that one-third of all recipients came from the Coles College reflects our faculty’s commitment to their students.
  • This week, the Coles College hosted its first-ever summit on the financial technology (Fintech) industry. Nearly 150 people attended the online event, including students from Kennesaw State and beyond as well as faculty, working professionals, and leaders from major Fintech businesses like Truist, FIS Global, and U.S. Bank/Elavon. Called Investing in Tomorrow: Bridging the Digital Payment Talent Gap, the event was designed to demonstrate the breadth of the digital payments industry and the many related career opportunities. Investing in Tomorrow was a collaboration between the Coles College and The Georgia Fintech Academy. Thanks to Khawaja Saeed, Humayun Zafar, and everyone involved in making this event a success. With the Coles College recently launching our new Master of Science in Digital Financial Technologies, events like this will continue to position the College as a leading source of Fintech thought leadership.

  • The National Hybrid Schools Project, a nonprofit housed within the Coles College focused on conducting research around alternate K-12 education models, garnered national attention when Forbes did a piece on its recent conference. Held on the Kennesaw State campus, the conference saw 175 people from around the country visit to share their experiences with the emerging hybrid school model, which involves blending homeschooling with traditional classroom learning. The Forbes article outlined many of the challenges conference attendees described facing, such as difficulties gaining legitimacy within state governments while maintaining independence from them. The National Hybrid Schools Project is part of the Coles College’s Education Economics Center and is quickly becoming a clearinghouse for research and discussion on hybrid education models. Congratulations to the project’s director Eric Wearne for organizing a successful event and for helping add another area for which the Coles College is recognized nationally.

April 2022

  • This week the Coles College hosted its 2022 Outstanding Student Awards Ceremony, where we recognized some of the best and brightest among our graduating class. This was the first in-person Outstanding Student Awards Ceremony since Spring 2019, and the energy in the room was electric. It was satisfying watching our award winners share memories with each other and with their faculty sponsors and department heads. The College recognized one student from each academic program and presented them with trophies commemorating their achievement. As these students go on to undoubtedly accomplish great things, their Outstanding Student Awards will serve as a reminder of where their successful careers started.
  • The Board or Regents approved this month the launch of the Coles College’s newest degree program, a Master of Science in Digital Financial Technologies. Our program – which is the first graduate Fintech degree in the state – continues the College’s ongoing commitment to being the leading provider of digital payments professionals in Georgia. The State’s Fintech industry generates more than $70 billion each year in revenue and employs more than 50,000 people, which means our graduates will have plenty of opportunities to distinguish themselves. Please join me in thanking everyone in the Department of Information Systems and Security – including program lead Humayun Zafar – for helping make this exciting new program a reality.
  • I want to thank all the faculty and staff who attended our most recent Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series event with Lee Rhyant as well as those who encouraged their students to do the same. Your presence meant so much to me and definitely to Lee, who shared some true wisdom with the audience. Lee’s message about the importance of understanding that everyone has their own launching pad is a powerful one that can help people better relate to each other. After all, Lee didn’t become the executive vice president of Lockheed-Martin without learning how to build personal and professional relationships. Lee has been a longtime friend of the College (former executive in residence, member of the Coles Hall of Fame, former advisory board member). It was an honor to host him as part of our flagship speaker series.
  • Students in the School of Accountancy received more than $280,000 in scholarships this month at the SOA’s annual honors banquet, representing the largest-ever scholarship total in the school’s history. The incredible milestone was made possible by contributions from the SOA’s 32 corporate partners. Scholarship support is a critical part of the SOA’s partnership program, with organizations contributing to scholarships at every support level. In addition to awarding more than 70 student scholarships, the honors banquet also recognized the SOA’s Outstanding Student, Gillian Barnes, as well as the winners of the GSCPA’s Academic Excellence Award and the Federation of Schools of Accountancy Award, Sarah Fandrey and Jorge Callehas, respectively. The success of the honors banquet is a perfect example of how students benefit when the Coles College cultivates partnerships with the business community.

March 2022

  • As I’m sure many of you have heard, the University System of Georgia this month announced that Kathy “Kat” Schwaig will be the next president of Kennesaw State University. For those of us who worked with Kat during her nearly 20 years at the Coles College, we know that the University is in excellent hands. Kat joined KSU in 2002 and has held many faculty and leadership roles over the years. In 2012, she became dean of the Coles College and led our school during a time when our size and prestige grew considerably. It has been exciting watching her continue to succeed since leaving the Coles College, first to become provost and then interim president. During her entire career, Kat has focused on creating successful student outcomes and on making the faculty and staff working for her feel supported. These are goals I have no doubt she will continue pursuing as president.
  • Congratulations to Birton Cowden, academic director for the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, for taking home the award for Best Empirical Paper at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s 2022 annual conference. His paper, entitled “Are Female Entrepreneurs More Effective in Applying Effectual Logics?” asks some very interesting questions about whether gender plays a role in how entrepreneurial ventures are managed. He and his international research team found that women have an advantage when it comes to effectual logic, or the ability to experiment with available resources to achieve non-predetermined goals. This is Birton’s second time winning the Best Empirical Paper award.
  • After going virtual two years in a row, both major competitions traditionally held during Spring Break in the Burruss Building – the National Collegiate Sales Competition and the Southeastern Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition – were held in person once again this year. Both events brought students from across the country to the Coles College to showcase their talents in their respective fields. Sixty-seven teams competed in the NCSC, which is the longest-running college sales competition in the world, with Kennesaw State’s team placing seventh. Meanwhile, eight finalists from the region traveled to Kennesaw to compete in the SECCDC, where the top spot went to Central Florida University. Hosting these events each year is a point of pride for the Coles College of Business, and it was with great joy that we welcomed these fierce student competitors to campus again.
  • Lee Rhyant, a longtime supporter and friend of the Coles College, will host the April 21st event in the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series, where he will speak to students about turning failures into successes. The son of sharecroppers, Lee started from humble beginnings and ultimately achieved amazing success in leadership roles with General Motors, Rolls-Royce Aeronautics and Lockheed Martin. He is currently the CEO and president of LER Solutions, an executive coaching and professional development firm in Atlanta. Lee is a Coles College Hall of Fame inductee, has served as executive in residence, and was a member of the Coles College advisory board. Joining him for the Tetley event is Dr. Catherine Lewis, KSU’s Assistant Vice President of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books, who co-wrote Lee’s book Soaring: Eleven Guiding Principles on the Path from Segregation to Success. Lee’s inspiring story of success is sure to motivate your students to accomplish greatness.  

February 2022

  • The Technology Association of Georgia last week recognized Kennesaw State University’s commitment to 3D printing technology during their annual Technology Awards, honoring the University in the “Digital Transformations” category. Kennesaw State’s 3D printing infrastructure is a campus-wide project to make 3D printers available to the KSU community to support academic, creative, and even professional projects. During the last year, 3D printing labs have opened in the Coles College, College of the Arts, Bagwell College of Education, and the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Join me in thanking the whole team across campus – including our own Dominic Thomas – for helping Kennesaw State University fully embrace this emerging technology and distinguish ourselves among our peers.
  • Fifteen years after making the initial $100,000 contribution that established the Coles College’s Student Managed Investment Fund, Henssler Financial is donating additional funds to support the organization as well as the Coles College Scholars Program. Henssler Financial has pledged $200,000 over the next four years. Half of the funds will support the SMIF through continued student access to the group’s Bloomberg computer terminal, which provides students with the most robust data available on public companies. The other half of the donation will fund the Scholars Program’s annual retreat kickoff event, usually held in the North Georgia Mountains. Henssler Financial has supported this event since 2015, providing money as well as sending members of the leadership team to participate and network with students. Thanks to the generous support of Henssler Financial, two of the Coles College’s most successful student-focused organizations can continue creating new opportunities for their members.
  • For the second year in a row, students in the Master of Accounting Program are directly participating in the public accounting industry’s official standard-setting process. Their work has even caught the attention of a vice president at Moody’s, who has become invested in our students’ work. Students in Mary Hill’s ACCT 7630 class this week are finalizing a joint letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board – the industry’s standard-setting body in the U.S. – as part of a public comment period on proposed new rules around third-party invoice financing. It’s rare for students to participate in public comment periods, and even rarer for an entire class to do so. Because all comment letters are entered into the public record, our students’ work will be available to read indefinitely. In fact, the quality of last year’s letter caught the attention of David Gonzales, a vice-president and senior accounting analyst at Moody’s, who has since began mentoring our MAcc students. I can’t think of a better way to motivate student interest in accounting than letting them participate directly in making the rules.
  • Recent rankings from Research.com confirm what we have always known: the Coles College of Business is home to some of the country’s most accomplished business researchers. Kennesaw State ranked No. 100 in the U.S. for research in business and management and 126 for research in economics and finance. The rankings are based on author citations and each university’s h-index, which represents the productivity and impact of a group of researchers. Research.com also examined the output of individual researchers, ranking Dana Hermanson 418th in the U.S. and Lance Brouthers 558th in business and management. Dana also ranked 914th for economics and finance. I am honored to be a part of an institution that gives its faculty experts room to shine.

January 2022

  • Successful business leaders and longtime friends of the Coles College J. Larry Stevens and Lee Rhyant will inspire students this spring when they each host events in the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series. Larry will present on March 16th with Lee speaking on April 13th. Both events will be held in Burruss Building 151 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Larry is a former partner at PwC, where he worked for nearly 40 years. Today, he is an adjunct professor of accounting at the Coles College and is founder and co-director of the Coles College M&A Academy. Lee spent more than 30 years in leadership roles at multi-billion dollar companies like Lockheed Martin and General Motors before becoming president and lead consultant at LER Solutions. He is a former Coles College Advisory Board member and former executive in residence. All faculty should highly encourage their students to attend both events. Larry and Lee are true leadership experts and will no doubt have a wealth of great insights to share.    
  • The Center for Student Success is hosting its next Coles College Showcase on Feb. 9th in the Carmichael Student Center University Rooms from noon to 3:00 p.m. Coles College students will interact with representatives from departments and organizations across the College and the University to see how their services – ranging from academic support to career readiness programs – can contribute to student success. Now in its third year, the showcase is always equal parts informative and entertaining. Not only do students get to see the full range of resources and services available to them as Kennesaw State students, but there is also plenty of fun. At this year’s event, will walk away with plenty of giveaways and can enter a drawing for a free closed course override. Help spread the word about the Coles College Showcase and help students build valuable connections.

  • With several Coles College faculty scheduled to lead education abroad programs this spring and summer, it’s time to let students know about these exciting opportunities to explore other cultures while gaining a broader understanding of business. This year, Coles College faculty-led programs will travel to Germany, Greece, Italy, England, and South Korea. And, thanks to most students being eligible for the University’s Global Learning Scholarship, studying abroad has become much more affordable this year. Please point any interested students to our Coles College Education Abroad Page for details on Coles College faculty-led programs and for a link to apply. Studying abroad is an excellent way for students to learn about the global nature of business.

  • Students in the Information Security and Assurance program have a new scholarship opportunity beginning next academic year thanks to an industry partnership with Security Executive Council, a research and advisory firm operating in the information security space. SEC recently announced that information security students at three institutions – University of South Carolina, Mercyhurst University, and Kennesaw State – will qualify for up to $7,500 in scholarship money starting in the 2022-2023 academic year. Thanks to Herb Mattord in the Department of Information Systems and Security for helping bring the Coles College and SEC together. This scholarship will help us continue to produce excellent graduates in this in-demand field.

December 2021

  • With Hope Baker retiring this summer after nearly 30 years at Kennesaw State University, Mona Sinha has been named the new Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. Mona will begin her new role on Jan. 1 and will work throughout the Spring Semester with Hope, who has agreed to stay on until June to make progress on special projects. Mona has been a passionate supporter of undergraduate students for many years, especially when it comes to encouraging them to conduct and publish research. Her chief motivation has always been to prepare students for rich, full careers after graduation. This dedication will serve her well as she focuses on initiatives like enhancing student success and improving graduation rates. I am excited to welcome Mona to the Coles College’s leadership team.
  • The Leven School is launching a speaker series in January open to all students featuring some big names in the management, hospitality, and entrepreneurship spaces. Speakers include the CEO of Tropical Smoothie Café and the CEO of Jack in the Box, among others. The series has been organized by new franchise management professor Jordan Krolick, who will also moderate the events. While students enrolled in his MGT 4124 course will attend each presentation as part of the class, the events are open to all students. The first presentation is on Jan. 10 at 7:00pm with Keith Keppner, CEO of Keppner Boxing, in BB 381. Please encourage any student with an interest in business ownership, management, and franchising to attend.
  • I am excited to announce that the Coles College Staff Forum is returning in January. All staff are invited to attend a breakfast meeting on Friday, Jan. 28 at 8:30 am in BB 381 to discuss the forum’s relaunch, its goals, and to choose an interim leadership team. Formed in 2013, the Coles Staff Forum provides staff with networking and professional development opportunities, a place to share best practices with one another, and a way to improve welfare by providing staff with a single voice. The staff forum has always been an empowering body and a way for staff to feel more connected to the College. I look forward to watching it thrive again.   

  • For faculty and staff looking for a new and creative way to promote their departments or create some brand awareness, the Burruss Building’s 3D Printing Lab has recently added a fabric printer to their inventory, allowing users to easily print designs onto t-shirts, hoodies, and similar items. If you haven’t already checked it out, the 3D Printing Lab on the Burruss Building’s fourth floor is quite an impressive space with a wall of 3D printers and a meeting room in addition to the new fabric printer. Faculty and staff will have access to the fabric printer early next year once the Department of Information Systems works out logistics surround access. It’s important to remember that, if you use the printers to make promotional materials for your department, you must still go through the University’s design approval process before printing. Your best bet is to submit designs to our Creative Communications team (pharbin3@kennesaw.edu), who will work with StratComm to secure approvals. Thanks to Dominic Thomas and everyone and the ISS Department for helping grow our 3D Printing Lab.

November 2021

  • The recent Coles Research Symposium on Homeland Security brought researchers from across the country to campus to talk about a topic that’s never been timelier. COVID-19 loomed large over the event, which was canceled last year due to the pandemic. Researchers from KSU, Purdue University, University of Georgia, College of the Holy Cross, Coca-Cola, RAND Corporation, and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center presented on topics ranging from how the pandemic has snarled supply chains to how economic principles can help explain the motivations of conflict. It was especially exciting to see student researchers at the event. Three KSU doctoral candidates from across campus presented, including Coles College PhD candidate DeJarvis Oliver. As always, the event was a joint effort of the Coles College and the Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity. My gratitude goes out to Jomon Paul, Tim Mathews, and everyone who came together to help the Coles College continue making a name for itself as a home for relevant, thoughtful discourse. Learn more about this year's symposium.

  • Six talented sales professionals headlined a “Women in Sales” panel discussion on campus, where they spoke with professional sales students about their career journeys and about the realities of working in sales. Among the panelists were two Coles College alumnae – Ashley Thomas, executive sales representative for Liberty Mutual, and Chelsea Whitten-Gachette, regional vice president for Gartner. Both students spoke about how the mentorship they received at the Center for Professional Selling helped set them on their current paths. The panel covered several issues women face in the workforce, including how many are expected to be the primary caregivers to their children while having a career and how all genders are dissuaded from showing empathy in professional settings. This event, organized by the Center for Professional Selling, was an open and frank discussion about the excitement of working in sales and the challenges of being a woman in the workplace.
  • Students in the School of Accountancy won big this month in two case competitions, bringing home a combined $11,500 in prize money. On Nov. 5, a team of Kennesaw State accounting students – Sabrina Leung and Amna Glissa – came in second at the Aprio Accounting Case Competition for Underrepresented Minorities. The team earned $7,000 in scholarship money. Then, on Nov. 12, Kennesaw State students Sarah Fandrey, Kaylee Hogan, and Kayla Smith, took first place at the 11th Annual Bill Mulcahy Institute of Internal Auditors Atlanta Auditing and Advisory Case Competition. Eight teams from five Georgia universities competed, with the winning team taking home $1,500 each. Case competitions allow students to apply their classroom skills to real-life accounting problems. Congratulations to our students for their outstanding performances.
  • For the second year in a row, the Department of Information Systems and Security has helped high school students grow their interest in cybersecurity by inviting them to participate in a Capture the Flag competition. No, the students were not running into each other’s bases trying to make off with a piece of red ribbon. Instead, they were competing in a “Jeopardy!-style” event where they would select information security challenges from a list of categories and then try to solve them before the other contestants. Nearly 30 9th-12th graders from across Georgia and the country (the event was virtual and open to all high school students) participated, with the winner coming from right here in Kennesaw. This competition is a labor of love for assistant professor and chief event organizer Andy Green, whose dedication to getting young people excited about cybersecurity is unquestionable.

October 2021

  • Michael Leven and J. Larry Stevens recently became the newest member of the Michael J. Coles College of Business Hall of Fame. Both men have improved the quality of our programs and the lives of our students in countless ways, and I am overjoyed to have had the opportunity to recognize those efforts. Michael’s generous gift in 2015 paved the way for the naming of the Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality, while Larry has served the Coles College and University for three decades as a member of the School of Accountancy Advisory Board, Kennesaw State Board of Trustees, and our very own MBA program. Both men have accomplished great things in their careers – Michael in hospitality and Larry in accounting and professional services – and continue to make a difference to our students. Read more about this year’s Hall of Fame.

  • The Center for Student Success held its first-ever ColesFest this month, which saw 200 students come out to the Carmichael Student Center to learn about the many resources and organizations available to them as Coles College Students. Several student leaders, including Student Government Association President and accounting major Amani Johnson, shared their Coles College success stories with the crowd. I was especially happy to see faculty and staff from each of our departments engaging with curious students, and was excited that so many representatives from University-wide organizations like The Writing Center, UITS, and the Division of Global Affairs also attended the event. While some of the students were likely attracted to the event by the promise of snacks and giveaways, I’m confident they all left energized about their Coles College experience.

  • This month the Coles College launched a new blog dedicated to showcasing the impressive level of business expertise residing within our walls. Called Strictly Business, the blog will feature a mix of posts from me and from members of our faculty on a wide range of business topics. Our goal with Strictly Business is to leverage our unique perspective as academics and, in many cases, current and former practitioners – to provide the professional community with informative, digestible insights on business concepts and trends. Each month will focus on a different theme, with October being entrepreneurship. Future themes include Fintech, the retail sector, and the power of professionals investing in themselves. Read Strictly Business today!

  • Information Security and Assurance Professor Mike Whitman is one of three Kennesaw State University faculty members named in a recent National Science Foundation grant to teach students to detect cybersecurity threats. In his work as Executive Director of the Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development, Mike joins information technology professor Hossain Shahriar and computer science professor Dan Lo in this $280,000 NSF grant project. The team will develop 10 modules that will help college students solve cybersecurity problems using machine learning algorithms. This grant will further the work of the ICWD and will enhance the career prospects of graduates from Kennesaw State’s cybersecurity program, which is a collaboration between the Coles College, College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

September 2021

  • Earlier this month, the Coles College and the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center signed a memorandum of understanding with Wilberforce University, the nation’s oldest historically Black university, to promote entrepreneurship programs at both institutions. Throughout the academic year, we will cooperate on research and a student-faculty exchange, and will work with WU’s Mark and Shelly Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to encourage entrepreneurial practices. Coles College advisory board member and WU alumnus Mark Wilson was instrumental in facilitating this connection. Mark is an accomplished entrepreneur and is the founder of Chime Solutions, a small business outsourcing services provider. Through this partnership with WU, both of our universities will benefit from the strengths of the other.
  • The PhD Project, an organization devoted to encouraging minorities to pursue doctoral education and become business professors, has named Coles College of Business faculty Leila Borders and Adriane Randolph to their Hall of Fame, recognizing their contributions to their fields and to the PhD Project’s cause. Leila, who recently retired from Kennesaw State after 13 years as professor of marketing and professional sales, has been highly active with the Atlantic Marketing Association, even spearheading an initiative to invite undergraduate students to their annual conference. Adriane, who is a professor of information systems and executive director of the BrainLab, has conducted exciting research on brain-computer interfaces and is currently a consultant on an NSF grant to bring more women professors into STEM. Congratulations to these superstars on their outstanding honor.

  • Fresh off the success of our first in-person Tetley event in 18 months, we will welcome Michael Leven to campus on Oct. 20th to host the next presentation in our flagship series. Michael is a close friend of the college and is the namesake of the Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship and Hospitality. For those of you who don’t know Michael, he has had a remarkable career in hospitality. He was the head of several hotel businesses including Days Inn of America and Holiday Inn Worldwide, founded AAHOA (the nation’s largest hotel owners’ association), and is the former president and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium. Michael’s Tetley presentation is on how effective leaders commit themselves to others. I encourage all faculty, staff, and students to attend. Click here to RSVP.

  • Please join me in congratulating Sweta Sneha for being named one of three finalists in the 2021 Women of the Year in STEAM Awards in the STEAM Education category. The 22nd annual Women of the Year Awards ceremony will be held on Oct. 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Each year, WIT uses these awards to recognize Georgia women working in science and technology who have used their positions to make a difference in the community. As executive director of Kennesaw State’s Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program, Sweta helps train the next generation of health care professionals to understand the important role of technology in improving patient outcomes. All of us at the Coles College will be rooting for Sweta in October!  

August 2021

  • For the first time in nearly 18 months, the Coles College of Business welcomed a full complement of students back to the Burruss Building this week as we kicked off the Fall 2021 semester. And, with enrollment topping 8,000 for the first time ever, the excitement in the building has been palpable. I have been especially proud of the way the faculty and staff have come out to help our students ease back into their old routines or, for many students, into brand new ones. Between working information tables, helping students find their way around the building, or even pointing out the best spots for a bite to eat, the Coles College team has gone above and beyond for our students.
  • The Department of Marketing and Professional Sales rolled out a new Doctoral Students’ Summer Bootcamp this year that helped motivate 10 PhD students to overcome hurdles to completing – or starting – their dissertations. Plans are in place to expand the program to all PhD students. Marketing professors Mona Sinha and Jennifer Hutchins worked with Darlene Rodriguez in the Department of Social Work to develop the curriculum, which focused on teaching students to develop strong researching and writing practices. All nine marketing PhD students participated in the voluntary program with one information systems student joining in. Based on the program’s success, the PhD program has decided to integrate it into the curriculum for all PhD students, while Mona and Jennifer plan to help other colleges at Kennesaw State roll out their own versions.

  • The College is now partnering with a new company called Knack to streamline our tutoring process, and I need your help to identify high-performing students to serve as tutors. Partnering with Knack will allow the College to automate the process of matching students with peer mentors. The platform becomes the place where students enroll to become tutors and where students looking for assistance go to find help. Sessions are all virtual and participants can schedule sessions any time that works for them. If you have any students you think would excel as tutors, and who are interested in earning extra money, please recommend them here.

  • Hospitality management student Alana Agcaoili will attend a major industry conference next month in Atlanta as the recipient of the John Cahill Student Seat at the upcoming CIO Summit, which is organized by Hospitality Upgrade, a publication covering technology in the hospitality industry. At the event, Alana will network with prominent players in the industry and learn about the latest technology trends, which will help in her current role as a procurement specialist for IHG. The John Cahill Seat is awarded each year to one student nationally in a hospitality program at a four-year institution. Previous recipients include students from Penn State and Boston University.

July 2021

  • After two years of leading the Coles College’s inclusivity efforts as our first director of diversity relations, business law associate professor Sonia Toson will now do the same for the University, as she was selected to be Kennesaw State’s interim chief diversity officer. Since stepping into her director role in 2019, she has spearheaded diversity and inclusion training sessions for faculty and staff, supported efforts to encourage more women and minorities to pursue careers in academia, and has aligned the Coles College’s diversity efforts with those of AACSB International. The University has clearly recognized Sonia’s value in this role, and I have no doubt Kennesaw State will continue to embrace inclusion under her guidance.
  • Master of Business Administration alumnus Katie Kerney has become the chief people officer for Parker’s, a major Southeast regional convenience store chain. Katie will guide the company’s culture and all aspects of employee safety and success. A nearly 30-year veteran human resources professional, Katie previously served as Vice President of Learning for their Americas at Marriott International and as director of human resources for Marriott locations around the country. She has received multiple awards for talent development and leadership. Katie earned her MBA from Kennesaw State in 1996 with a concentration in human resources and labor relations. It is always exciting to see a Coles owl flying so high!

  • The Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program is preparing to celebrate its fifth anniversary next month at an event honoring the graduation of its fourth cohort. Launched in Fall 2016, the MSHMI program continues to grow each year with the most recent cohort – cohort 5 – being the largest yet at 52. This innovative graduate program has helped information technology professionals, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers learn to better understand and leverage the connection between information technology and healthcare outcomes. A major part of this success comes from the program’s partnership with healthcare organizations like Wellstar, Cognizant, and even the CDC, as well as from the dedication of its founder and executive director, Sweta Sneha. The College recently published a feature on some of the program’s exceptional students that I encourage you all to read.

  • One thing I enjoy about this forum is the opportunity to call out faculty quoted in the media as subject matter experts. During the last several weeks, Andy Green, Randy Stuart, Roger Tutterow, and Prachi Gala all appeared in the media as subject matter experts. Andy can be seen in a Local 24 story from Memphis, Tenn. sharing insights on password safety, while Roger was recently featured on ABC 10 Sacramento discussing the impact of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown on gas prices. Randy and Prachi were both quoted in personal finance blogs WalletHub and ValuePenguin, respectively. Stuart offered advice on what consumers should consider before applying for a retailer’s branded credit card, while Prachi discussed how a car insurance provider’s market share can influence customer perceptions. It makes me proud to know that editors and readers from across the country recognize our faculty as experts in their fields.

June 2021

  • As we move into July, please don’t forget to congratulate the several members of the Coles College family assuming new responsibilities on July 1. Brian Rutherford, Saurabh Gupta, Jomon Paul, and Brett Katzman will each be helping advance the College’s mission in new and exciting ways when we begin the next academic year. After more than three years of significantly growing the stature of our Ph.D. in Business Administration program, Brian is stepping down as executive director and returning to the classroom. Saurabh Gupta, who has worked in the Ph.D. program for years as the information systems discipline lead, will become the next executive director. Also on July 1, Brett Katzman will assume the new role of associate dean for faculty and research, where he will help set our research priorities and oversee faculty support and development. Finally, Jomon Paul’s title will become director of research and assessment, recognizing his expanded role in assessment related to AACSB accreditation. With these changes, I am confident that great things are in store for the College!
  • Another exciting development for July 1 is that the Coles College will welcome Steven Phelan as the new director of the Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality. Steve comes to Kennesaw State University from Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, where he is currently the distinguished professor of entrepreneurship. He previously served there as provost fellow for academic innovation, MBA director, and interim department chair of management, marketing, and entrepreneurship. In addition, he was the executive director of Rowan University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the director of the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Center for Entrepreneurship. Possessing what he describes as “a bias for action,” Steven is ready to continue the Leven School’s commitment to improving organizational management across the professional world.

  • Taylor Rambo, who graduated with his Master of Business Administration Degree just two months ago, has been selected to be the Georgia Symphony Orchestra’s new executive director. While he has been a musician and performer for years, Taylor credits his success to the essential business skills learned during his time in the MBA program. Taylor began earning his webMBA in 2019 while working for the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C. When the pandemic hit, he returned home to Marietta, where he finished his degree while volunteering with the GSO. His newfound understanding of accounting, organizational management, and information systems gave him the confidence to pursue the executive director position. Taylor’s story speaks to the immediate value our MBA programs provide to their students. Read more about Taylor’s journey.

  • Last month, the new Advertising and Digital Media Advisory Board held its first meeting to discuss ways to keep the curriculum up-to-date and relevant in the recently launched advertising and digital media minor. The committee includes seven leaders from businesses like Nike and Cox Media, many of them Kennesaw State alumni. Tyra Burton organized this committee to help support the new minor launched in Spring 2021. With trends and practices in advertising and digital media – especially in social media – changing daily, she knew having a group of experts heavily involved in the program could only be a good thing. During their first meeting, they outlined skills that students should have to stand out as job candidates and how to better incorporate those into classes. Going forward, this advisory committee will continue to meet each semester. The fact that five of the seven members are KSU alumni means this committee has a definite interest in seeing our students succeed.

May 2021

  • CEO Magazine recently released its 2021 Global Executive MBA rankings, with the Coles College of Business once again having the top EMBA program in Georgia. The rankings, released last week, also list our program as No. 2 in the nation and 8th in the world. CEO Magazine named the EMBA program a Global Tier One program for the seventh year in a row and labeled Coles College a “premier DBA provider” for our Ph.D. in Business Administration program. Continually being ranked among the top programs in the world affirms the commitment of our faculty and staff to providing students with a proven path to success.

  • The 2021 issue of the Coles Research Magazine is available now and features some outstanding work from our faculty, including four papers published in Financial Times Top 50 Journals along with the winners of the 2021 working paper awards. Our faculty – and our stellar Ph.D. candidates – produce relevant, actionable business research every year. The Coles Research Magazine gives us an opportunity to showcase that work. Among the faculty featured in this year’s issue is Jomon Paul, our research director, who received the Distinguished Journal Publication Award for research that appeared in the European Journal of Operational Research. In addition to a tireless researcher, Jomon is the driving force behind the magazine, which is a labor of love for him. View our 2021 Coles Research Magazine.

  • Rachel Humphrey, the latest addition to the Coles College of Business advisory board, brings with her a wealth of knowledge about the hospitality industry gained from an impressive career as an attorney representing the industry and, more recently, as head of its largest association. Rachel is the executive vice president and chief operating officer at AAHOA, the hotel industry’s largest trade association, co-founded by Michael Leven, who endowed our very own School of Management, Entrepreneurship and Hospitality. Before joining AAHOA in 2015, Rachel spent 20 years as an attorney representing hotel franchises and other small businesses. Hotel Management has named her one of the most “Influential Women in Hospitality” while Lodging Magazine praised her as one of “18 Women Paving the Way in Hospitality,” and these are only a few of her accolades. Rachel’s expertise makes her a valuable asset to the entire Coles College, and will help us continue to grow our new hospitality management program.
  • Congratulations to Doug Moodie on being named the 2021 Kennesaw State University Outstanding Professional Service and Community Engagement Award winner. Doug, along with the other 11 award recipients, was honored last week at a reception held at the KSU Center. Anyone who knows the lengths Doug goes to on behalf of the Coles College and Kennesaw State understands why he deserves this award. Despite being an active, dedicated educator, Doug volunteers his time and experience conducting service activities at the USG system office as well as at the University, college, and departmental level. He is also former president of the Faculty Senate and actively works to promote internationalization across campus. Service to others is in Doug’s blood, and it’s rewarding to see him be recognized for it.

April 2021

  • Coles College alumnus Aaron Gagnon, who is the chief audit executive for Apple, was on campus last week to meet with current Master of Accounting students and talk about how his Kennesaw State education took him around the globe and, ultimately, to the most valuable company in the world. Aaron, who earned his accounting degree from KSU in 1994, has had quite the career. He spent 20 years at Ernst & Young, where he had the chance to live and work in Germany and Japan, followed by three years at Abercombie & Fitch before becoming Apple’s most senior internal auditor. Speaking to students in Fred Masci and Brad Schafer’s MAcc classes, Aaron described how working with his faculty, serving in student government, and helping found Kennesaw State’s chapter of the Beta Alpha Psi honors society gave him the soft skills necessary to achieve his current success. Alumni like Aaron are a great reminder of exactly what Coles College students are capable of.  
  • Congratulations to the Kennesaw State Student Managed Investment Fund for recently winning the CFA Society Atlanta Ethics Challenge, demonstrating that our students understand that successful investing is not just about earning a profit, but doing so ethically. The virtual event had teams from five Atlanta-area universities reviewing a case study to identify ethical challenges in the scenario. They presented potential solutions to a panel of judges made up of professional chartered financial analysts. Govind Hariharan, the SMIF’s faculty advisor and the team’s coach during the Ethics Challenge, says that the importance of ethical investing is baked into everything the SMIF does. This recent victory shows that our students aren’t just ready to succeed professionally, they’re ready to succeed as people.
  • After more than a year, the Coles College of Business’s flagship Tetley Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series returned this month. Held virtually, the event’s host was Pat Flood, regional operating manager for Supreme Lending, who inspired students to be better leaders by always focusing on relationships. Pat is a highly energetic speaker whose presentation, called Destination: BEST, highlighted the strategies he uses to motivate his staff as well as to relate better to the people in his life. Considering Supreme’s employees have voted it as one of Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Best Places to Work for four years in a row, Pat’s methods have clearly been successful. I am thrilled that our popular Tetley series has returned, and I look forward to connecting our students to more exciting leaders in the future.
  • The 2021 Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition looked a little different this year, and not only because it was virtual. Two new changes – one to the technology and another to how the competition is scored – helped the event reflect the real-world challenges cybersecurity professionals face. For the first time ever, the servers that students defended from simulated cyber attacks were not on campus, but were entirely in the cloud. In addition, teams lost twice as many points as last year whenever their order fulfillment servers were down, reflecting the importance of information security on a company’s bottom line. Competition manager Andy Green introduced these changes so that the 56 students from seven universities participating in the event could have an experience that is as close to the real thing as possible.

March 2021

  • The Kennesaw State Sales Team earned 3rd place in the 23rd annual National Collegiate Sales Competition, with team member Adam Sticker also placing third in the individual competition. Kennesaw State virtually hosted 135 competitors from 68 universities across the United States and Canada. Learning lessons from last year’s event – which went virtual with only 16 days’ notice – the staff and volunteers with the Center for Professional Selling worked with event sponsor Gartner to organize the competition entirely over video conferencing. It took more than 600 unique WebEx invitations to conduct the event, which also included a virtual career fair and a speed selling event for non-competitors. While the second virtual NCSC was a success, we look forward to welcoming sales students from around the country in person again next year!
  • Building on the success of our relationship with the Georgia Fintech Academy, Kennesaw State has just launched a new minor program in financial technology. Focusing specifically on digital payments, the new program prepares students of any major to succeed in Georgia’s booming fintech sector. The Coles College is partnering with the College of Computing and Software Engineering to offer four new digital payments courses required to earn the minor alongside other classes offered via the Georgia Fintech Academy. As the program’s coordinator, Humayun Zafar has done tremendous work growing Kennesaw State’s fintech offerings and helping us launch the first minor of its kind in the state. With Georgia fintech firms bringing in more than $100 billion in annual revenue, this is definitely a space we want to prepare our students for.

  • Coles College faculty members Canan and Sunay Mutlu saw their research recently profiled in the CLS Blue Sky Blog, a business publication of Columbia Law School. The article highlights research the pair published last fall on how serving on outside boards of directors affect’s managerial efficiency. Canan and Sunay collaborated with Steve Sauerwald at the University of Illinois at Chicago on the paper CEO Outside Directorships and Managerial Efficiency: The Role of Host Board Capital, which was published in the August 2020 issue of Corporate Governance: An International Review. They found that serving on outside boards often reduced a CEO’s managerial efficiency, but having diverse CEOs from outside firms on their own board can increase efficiency. It’s all a balancing act! Given that these findings can influence how active – or not – an organization’s CEO is on outside boards, it’s no surprise that Columbia Law School promoted the research. See the full blog post.

  • Since last fall, students in Mona Sinha’s MBA international marketing class have been helping the non-profit Amani Project develop marketing strategies for rolling out a new online music education program in several countries around the world. With the pandemic leaving Amani Project unable to raise money for their primary focus of offering free in-person music education clubs to underprivileged children, the organization created the subscription-based WorldStage product to increase revenue to fund their clubs. The MBA students offered their expertise in studying global markets and identifying trends to help Amani create unique plans for launching WorldStage in Australia, Canada, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Their efforts have been successful, with Amani Project agreeing to continue the collaboration this semester.

February 2021

  • With the pandemic bringing more attention to online programs than ever before, the Michael J. Coles College of Business continues to stand out, with U.S. News and World Report ranking us 18th in their 2021 list of the Best Online Bachelor of Business Programs. Not only is Kennesaw State ranked in the top 20 overall, but the University is also the highest-ranked Georgia institution on the list. US News ranked each university based on four key metrics: engagement, services and technologies, faculty credentials and training, and expert opinion. Even before the pandemic, the Coles College has been recognized for its online degrees in information security and assurance, marketing, and management, with many organizations praising the quality and the value of our online BBAs.

  • The Coles College has announced the winners of the 2021 Research and Development Committee awards, recognizing the exceptional research and grant work of our faculty. Congratulations to Minjiao Zhang and Adriane Randolph on being named this year’s winners. Minjiao received the Outstanding Publication Award for her paper, Supply Location and Transportation Planning for Hurricanes: A Two-Stage Stochastic Programming Framework, co-authored by Jomon Paul, which was published in the A+ ranked European Journal of Operations Research. Adriane received the Competitive Grant award for being a lead consultant on the $1 million National Science Foundation grant project, ImPACT: Increasing the Participation and AdvanCement of Women in Information Technology. Congratulations to Minjiao and Adriane on their accomplishments.

  • Two Coles College faculty – Randy Stuart and Stefano Mazzotta – have recently appeared in consumer finance blogs as part of their expert panels offering insights into questions about customer-bank interactions and choosing a car insurance provider. Last month, Randy was featured on WalletHub.com discussing strategies for evaluating different car insurance providers, including advising consumers to not put a lot of faith in social media reviews. Meanwhile, last week Stefano was quoted on CreditDonkey.com reminding consumers that any frustrations they have with their personal banks will only result in change if consumers are willing to take bold steps like closing their accounts. Media appearances like these are important in helping the public and the wider business community understand the breadth of subject matter expertise within our walls.

  • Started last semester to help new and existing faculty engage with the College, the Coles College Connections series continues this spring, with sessions on research support and student involvement coming in the next several weeks. The next event is on Feb. 25 and will feature Jomon Paul discussing the resources available in the College to help faculty conduct their research. Later, the series concludes on March 15 when leaders from the Center for Professional Selling, Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center, and the Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity share the different ways students can interact with their centers. They will also help faculty demonstrate to students the value that participating in a center can bring to their academic careers. The links to these upcoming sessions – as well as to recordings of past sessions – can be found at ColesCollege.com/connections.

January 2021

  • Coles College of Business faculty member Harry Vardis knows how exciting – and how challenging – being an international student in the U.S. can be. With that in mind, he has launched a new scholarship dedicated to helping international students earning business degrees at Kennesaw State. Harry made a generous seven-figure gift to the University to establish the Harry and Athena Vardis Scholarships, which will provide needs-based support to KSU students, with special consideration paid to international students pursuing degrees with the Coles College. Harry, who is an adjunct professor in our MBA and BBA programs, traveled to the U.S. from Greece to study at the University of North Dakota during World War II. Harry hopes that this scholarship will allow him to share that life-changing experience with a new generation of students.
  • Two alumni of the Coles College MBA program started out the new year in leadership roles at Southeastern universities. Scott Rule and Leonard Adams have been named chancellor of Louisiana Delta Community College and interim president of Knoxville College respectively. Scott earned his MBA from the Coles College in 1997 and has held many jobs in higher education, including most recently as the president of West Georgia Technical College. Leonard graduated in 2014 and is the CEO of Quest Community Development Organization. Both men are certain to use the exceptional leadership training received in the Coles College MBA program to make a difference at their institutions.
  • The ongoing pandemic has made many students concerned about their job prospects as they approach graduation. The Department of Information Systems and Security brought in a panel of recent alumni late last semester to show their students that there are still many opportunities available to them. More than 70 current students attended the virtual event, which featured 10 graduates of the information systems and information security and assurance programs. Many of the panelists graduated within the past year, which allowed them to share their insights on the current job market. They assured the audience that IS and ISA jobs are as in demand as ever and recommended attendees look for ways to stand out, like earning new certifications. The event went a long way towards making students excited about the future again.

  • Among the major stories dominating the national headlines are the coronavirus pandemic and the recent hack of government computer systems by foreign operatives. Two Coles College faculty – Andy Green and Melih Madanoglu – have been tapped by the media to offer expert commentary. When governmental computer networks around the country were compromised by hackers exploiting a vulnerability in the SolarWinds IT management system, Andy, a professor of information security and assurance, appeared on WSBTV for a piece investigating whether Atlanta used the exploited software. Meanwhile, Melih, who is our Michael A. Leven Endowed Chair and a professor of hospitality management, appeared on the consumer information site WalletHub to discuss the ongoing pandemic’s effect on travel credit card rewards programs. The appearance of our faculty on local and national media outlets helps solidify the Coles College as a source for expert information and commentary.

December 2020

  • Information Systems professor Adriane Randolph is now a consultant on a new National Science Foundation grant project exploring ways to create more opportunities for women to become professors in IS education. Kennesaw State University is one of five universities collaborating on the $1 million, four-year project. Adriane’s role is as liaison between the grant team and the PhD Project, an organization that encourages people of color to pursue doctoral education. As an alumna of the PhD Project and the current faculty advisor for its IS student group, Adriane’s goal is to make sure that efforts to increase female participation in the male-dominated field do not overlook women of color. This grant puts Kennesaw State and the Coles College of Business on the leading edge of the fight to diversify higher education. 
  • The Coles College of Business has been recognized by The Princeton Review as having one of the top 50 online MBA programs in the nation, coming in at No. 29. This is the first inclusion of our MBA program on this high-profile Princeton Review listing, and it is the highest ranked Georgia university featured there. The Princeton Review considered several criteria when rating programs, including faculty and staff skill, student support, career services, cost, student satisfaction, and quality of the academics, just to name a few. Our MBA program’s inclusion in such a visible ranking is an outstanding achievement for the University, the College, and for the excellent faculty and staff in the MBA program.
  • An exciting partnership between the Coles College and technology firm LeanSwift will see the information systems program incorporate INFOR, one of the world’s most widely used enterprise-level software systems, into the classroom. Beginning in Spring, students in Wes Rhea’s undergraduate Business Process Management course will have access to full, professional instances of the INFOR enterprise resource management system – which businesses use to handle their customer order management, purchasing, supply chain planning, inventory management, manufacturing, distribution, and financials. Students will also use training materials developed by LeanSwift and IS faculty. The goal is to teach students to assist businesses with INFOR implementations when they graduate. While business clients typically pay more than $40,000 for this software, LeanSwift is providing it to Coles College at no cost. Partnerships like this help guarantee our students are competitive the moment they enter the job market.
  • Thanks to the generosity of Kennesaw State Foundation trustee and MBA faculty member Rick Bennett and his wife Julie, accounting majors who are also students in the KSU Journey Honors College now have access to a new scholarship created to honor the Bennetts’ parents. The Bennetts have committed $100,000 to establish the William N. Bennett and Jule Blair Memorial Scholarship to support honors students pursuing accounting degrees. When combined with matching funds from John and Rosemary Brown and the KSU Foundation, the scholarship’s value is $250,000, which means it will be available to students for years to come. I can’t thank the Bennetts enough for everything they have done and continue to do to support Kennesaw State University students.  

November 2020

  • A generous gift of $120,000 from tech entrepreneurs Sid and Sophie Mookerji has allowed the College’s Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center to establish the Mookerji Innovation Fund, which will support the development of student and alumni entrepreneurs. To administer the fund, the Shore Entrepreneurship Center has launched its Igniting New Companies program. In addition to providing access to capital for approved projects, the center will also provide consulting and other help to give each venture a shot at success. If you know any KSU students or recent alumni who would be interested in potentially getting some startup funding, encourage them to register for an information session.

  • Congratulations to Leila Borders, assistant chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales, for receiving the 2020 R. Keith Tudor Service Award from the Atlantic Marketing Association, recognizing her years of hard work for the organization. The award specifically calls out her dedication to the AMA’s annual conference – she previously served as track chair, reviewer, proceedings editor, and conference chair – as well as her time last year as AMA president. Established in 2013 and named for fellow Coles College faculty member Keith Tudor, who was AMA’s executive director from 1998 to 2008, the Keith Tudor Service Award recognizes individuals who have made a profound impact on the organization. The award is a reminder of how much Leila has done to promote marketing education.
  • Students from the Coles College of Business took the first and second place spots this month in the Aprio Case Competition, which included contestants from universities across the state. The winning team of accounting students Amanda Soriano and Trenity Williams earned $14,000 in prize money. CPA firm Aprio hosted the virtual competition, which tasked students with creating a pandemic business plan for an events company…not an easy task. Projects were scored based on several criteria including creativity, presentation skills, enthusiasm, and use of technology. The second-place team, consisting of Coles College students Tianna Smith, Marisa Daniel, and Lauren Goodrum, will split a $5,000 prize. I would like to thank Aprio for organizing this competition and engaging with accounting students during the pandemic and helping provide for them financially during a very difficult time.
  • Keith Perissi, executive director of the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program, spoke to the Georgia State Senate recently during a session on ways to expand the influence of the state’s already thriving music industry. Keith was part of a larger presentation to the Georgia Senate Study Committee on Music Workforce Development by Georgia Music Accord, an organization looking to build a Grammy Museum facility in Atlanta to help train college students for careers in music. Georgia Accord is co-chaired by MEBUS program namesake Joel Katz, and the MEBUS program is affiliated with the Grammy Museum. While speaking to the senators, Keith highlighted the MEBUS program’s success at getting students hired in the entertainment industry and how a GRAMMY Museum facility in town would create even more opportunities. I applaud Keith’s dedication to searching for new avenues to success for our students.

October 2020

  • While we’ve always known we’re preparing students to succeed in rewarding careers, a recent report from financial information resource smartasset confirms it. Three of the fastest-growing jobs for young professionals in the U.S. – including the top spot – are careers that the Michael J. Coles College of Business offers programs in. Using data from the National Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at job growth among young people between 2019 and 2015, smartassets found that the fastest-growing job is information security analyst. At 46,000 young people working in the field, that represents a 171 percent growth. Meanwhile, market research analyst/specialist and purchasing manager are also in the top ten, with 57 percent and 54 percent growth respectively. It’s rewarding to be reminded that our students graduate from the Coles College with the skills to immediately compete in the marketplace. Check out the full smartasset report of the Fastest Growing Jobs for Young Professionals in the U.S.  

  • The University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science has recognized Adriane Randolph with its Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award in recognition of her groundbreaking work on human-computer interfaces. Among the award’s criteria is that the winner’s accomplishments must have directly benefitted society. Anyone familiar with the research Adriane has conducted as executive director of the Kennesaw State BrainLab – such as looking at how human-computer interfaces improve student learning and how technology can assist disabled people – can understand its impact. Adriane is an asset to the Coles College of Business and we are all proud that her achievements have been recognized by her undergraduate alma mater.

  • Online career research site Zippia recently asked leaders from several university hospitality programs – including our very own Melih Madanoglu – to speak about the industry’s future. Melih, who serves as the Michael A. Leven Endowed Chair and Professor – spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on hospitality. He shared a series of thoughtful insights, such as acknowledging it may be as much as three years for a full recovery and discussing how cities focusing on outdoor tourism haven’t suffered as much as those catering to business travelers. Melih’s comments appeared alongside representatives from the University of New Orleans, Temple University, and Stockton University, which helps our new program gain a national audience. See the full article Experts Weigh in on Current Job Market Trends.

  • The Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development and Kennesaw State’s cybersecurity degrees were featured in a USA Today special report on homeland security. An article on the Department of Homeland Security’s need for more cybersecurity professionals profiled several programs around the country, including the undergraduate and graduate offerings from the ICWD, which are collaborations between the Coles College, the College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. ICWD executive director Mike Whitman was interviewed for the piece, discussing how more than half of the applicants to the new master’s degree come from backgrounds other than IT.  You can read the full feature beginning on page 73 of the USA Today Special Edition on Homeland Security.

September 2020

  • Thank you to everyone who joined us for the launch of the new Coles College Connections virtual series, designed to help new and existing faculty and staff engage with the College. Part Coles College primer, part forum to discuss classroom innovations, Coles College Connections will meet bi-weekly for the next two months. The first session saw UITS demonstrating effective use Blackboard Ally in your classes. Future meetings will focus on the role of initiatives like the Coles Scholars Program and the Flight Academy, and on best practices for giving exams and ensuring academic integrity in the digital world. The goal of the series is to show faculty and staff how much the Coles College of Business has to offer to them and to our students. See the full schedule at the Coles College Connections Homepage.

  • Congratulations to professor Kamal Fatehi for recently receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to teach management courses in Romania. This is the seventh Fulbright award Kamal has received during his career as an educator, which has included numerous other international experiences and accolades. The scholarship is to teach in Bucharest and ASEBUS, a school which has been a close friend to the Coles College Executive MBA program for years. Unfortunately, while Kamal is eager to participate in this scholarship program, the pandemic has complicated issues, meaning he will likely be unable to travel. Still, earning one Fulbright Scholarship is an outstanding achievement; earning seven is remarkable. Kamal’s extensive international experience includes teaching or conducting research on four continents, consulting with the Russian Privatization Center after the fall of the Soviet Union, and winning the Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement in 2017.
  • Kennesaw State University’s Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity program has once again been recognized by Cyberdegrees.org as one of the top online cybersecurity schools in the country, with the independent organization raking KSU’s cybersecurity program 21st. Kennesaw State is the only Georgia school to appear in the top 25 of the 2020 listing of the Best Online Cybersecurity Bachelor Degrees, which ranks programs based on affordability, appeal, and flexibility. Our cybersecurity program was developed alongside the College of Computing and Software Engineering and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and is managed by the Institute for Cybersecurity and Workforce Development. This is the third year in a row that Cyberdegrees.org has ranked Kennesaw State among the top 25.
  • Investing is a complex topic that touches several disciplines in addition to business. The Coles College has partnered with three other KSU colleges and global investment manager BlackRock to lead a series of student-focused virtual sessions on interdisciplinary trends in global investing. The next session, which addresses questions on how to start investing now to prepare for the post-COVID world, will be held Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on Microsoft Teams. Leading the session will be BlackRock’s managing director Shayan Hussain along with professor Govind Hariharan and two student leaders from the Student Managed Investment Fund. The BlackRock series, which is presented by the Coles College, the College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the College of Science and Mathematics, is immensely valuable for your students. See the full semester-long schedule of events at the BlackRock series homepage.

August 2020

  • As we wrap up the first week of in-person classes since March, I want to once again thank all the faculty and staff who pitched in to prepare the college to receive students. From posting signage around the building, making classrooms and common areas conducive to social distancing, and embracing a mix of in-person and online instruction, we are all doing our part to make this semester as successful for our students as possible. Going forward, we must remember that the most important part of that success is keeping our campus community safe. I encourage everyone to familiarize themselves with the University’s Coronavirus Information & Resources Page, which provides details on everything from available testing opportunities to how the COVID Response Team will respond to positive cases. As we continue the semester in these uncharted waters, we will strive to provide optimal levels of learning for our students without compromising safety.

  • If you attended the welcome event with President Pamela Whitten Monday on the campus green, you also saw Tariq Bradford, president of the Student Government Association and a Coles College Senior, cutting the ceremonial first-day-of-school cookie cake. Tariq, who is double majoring in management and marketing, shared the stage with President Whitten, SGA vice president Jessica Watkins, and Scrappy the Owl. Beginning his tenure as SGA president this January, Tariq has been involved with the organization since 2017, when he served as the senator for student athletics. He is a dedicated student who plans to pursue a management career in the music industry. It fills me with pride to have a Coles Owl leading the SGA. 
  • Just one year after launching the Coles Flight Academy, the online student engagement platform has won two awards from Suitable, developers of the software it’s built on. Suitable presented the Coles Flight Academy with the Outstanding New Program Award and the Best Branding Award at their annual Pathways to Student Development conference in late July. The Coles Flight Academy and the enhancements it has helped us make to the Hughes Leadership and Career Program – specifically using a fun, game-like system to motivate students to focus on professional development activities – have helped the College better focus its career preparation efforts. We expect the platform to become more successful this semester as we open it up to students beyond the Hughes program. Congratulations to everyone in the Office of Undergraduate Programs for making the Coles Flight Academy a success.
  • Not long after graduating this spring with her Executive Master of Business Administration degree, Lauren Reed was named one of five 2020 Women in Biometrics by SIA, the world’s largest security industry trade association. Lauren has worked in forensics and biometrics for 20 years. Among her many roles was serving as the first woman director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory at the Defense Forensic Science Center, where she helped implement facial, fingerprint, and iris recognition software to identify potential national security threats overseas. Lauren currently works as senior program director for biometric forensics at IDEMIA National Security Solutions. In addition to winning the prestigious Women in Biometrics Award, she was also named the EMBA program’s outstanding scholar in Spring 2020. Lauren has already had an astonishing career. I’m eager to see what’s in store for her now that she has joined our alumni family.

July 2020

  • The Michael J. Coles College of Business today welcomes nearly 300 new members into the alumni family. In total, 271 undergraduate business students earned their degrees today. And while the ongoing pandemic meant canceling commencement ceremonies, that should not diminish the important accomplishments of our students nor the faculty and staff who helped them succeed. The University has launched a Summer Graduate Experience Page, featuring full lists of graduates broken out by college, an address from President Pamela Whitten, and congratulations from administrators and faculty across campus. I encourage you to share this page with your graduating students to show them that everyone at Kennesaw State is proud of what they have achieved. These students have done something amazing in extremely difficult circumstances.   

  • Several new faces have joined the Coles College this month, including Dr. Khawaja Saeed, who became the new chair of the Department of Information Systems on July 1. Khawaja comes to Kennesaw State after 16 years with the University of Wichita, where he worked as a professor of management information systems and associate dean of graduate studies in business. As he settles into his new role, Khawaja has laid out his three broad goals for the IS Department: preparing students for real jobs in security, providing faculty and staff access to professional development, and creating new interdisciplinary opportunities between colleges. While moving from Kansas to Kennesaw has been a bit of a culture shock, he jokes that he’s excited to learn how to hit a golf ball from a curved surface. Please join me in welcoming Khawaja to the Coles College of Business.
  • With the College’s new hospitality management degree program officially launching this fall, it is exciting to welcome the program’s new director, Dr. Leonard Jackson. Leonard has 20 years of experience in hospitality and tourism, both as an academic and a practitioner. He has graduate degrees in entrepreneurship and hospitality, as well as several related professional certificates. His most recent position was professor of entrepreneurship and innovation with Georgia State University. As director of hospitality management, Leonard is excited to help grow the new program into the region’s premiere provider of career-ready graduates in the hospitality and tourism industry. It was this unique opportunity to help launch a new program – as well as the Coles College’s emphasis on encouraging all students to think like entrepreneurs – that attracted him to Kennesaw State. Great things are definitely in store for our first class of hospitality management students.

  • Congratulations to Melih Madanoglu for having his research on multigenerational family businesses recognized by the International Family Enterprise Research Academy. Melih, who is the endowed chair and professor of hospitality, received the Best Paper Award in Contribution to Conference Theme during a virtual awards ceremony last month at the IFERA Conference originally scheduled to take place in Santander, Spain. Melih’s paper, “Family Portfolio Entrepreneurship and Family Firm Survival: A Rejuvenation Across Generations” addressed issues related to the conference’s theme of Generations to Generations: Bridging Past and Future in Family Business. IFERA presented Melih with the award in a unique way – the ceremony was themed like a Hollywood awards banquet. You should all check out the video of Melih’s award presentation on the Coles College Facebook Page.  

June 2020

  • Like the rest of the University, the Coles College is now slowly bringing its staff back to campus, with many people already there now. As we take this first step towards a return to normalcy, it’s important to remember that it will not be business as usual. From encouraging masks in all shared spaces, the closure of all break rooms, and the need to maintain social distance from coworkers, things are not going to feel quite the same as we return. I want to encourage everyone to check out the University’s Return to Campus Guide if you haven’t already, and remember that your supervisors are there if you have any questions about changes as we move forward. This is a strange time for all of us, and it is perfectly acceptable to be a little apprehensive. Just know that the leadership at the College and University levels are doing everything to guarantee a safe return for our valued staff.

  • For the second year in a row, the Coles College has seen an impressive jump in summer enrollment. The number of Coles College students enrolled in summer classes grew by 1,355 seats, representing about a 16 percent increase compared to last summer. Increasing summer enrollment to help students graduate on time has been a goal of President Pamela Whitten’s from the start, and one that the Coles College has been committed to supporting. While this success is the result of hard work across the College, I want to specifically call out the efforts of the Office of Undergraduate Programs for reaching out to students to let them know the benefits of taking summer classes. Their messaging energized our students and the results speak for themselves.
  • With the Coles College preparing this fall to launch its newest undergraduate degree program – the BBA in Hospitality – we have already seen early success with a new hospitality course. An entirely virtual Maymester course saw 33 students learn directly about the hospitality industry from key Atlanta players. Over the course of eight weeks, students in MGT 4490 attended virtual sessions hosted by speakers like Cecil Staton, president and CEO of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, and Gary Hughes, general manager of the Renaissance Hotel Waverly. While the class was originally intended to feature in-person presentations, credit goes to Michael A. Leven Endowed Chair and Professor of Hospitality Melih Madanoglu and the team in the Leven School for their quick action at restructuring the course.  

  • High Road Craft Ice Cream, a successful chef-focused ice cream business founded 10 years ago by two Executive MBA students as a class project, was recently honored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association as one of its 2020 Small Business Rock Stars. Trained Chef Keith Schroeder and corporate sales professional Hunter Thornton met in Fall 2008 on the first day of their EMBA program. For their capstone project, they created an ice cream business that caters to high-end restaurants and today generates $21 million in revenue. In addition to Schroeder and Thornton, MBA alumnus Adam Hayes also worked with the company for two years as chief operating officer. Today, Keith remains at High Road serving as chief executive officer and continues to maintain a close relationship with the Coles College and the EMBA program. We are all proud of this honor and of High Road’s continued success. Check out this GEDA video featuring all the Small Business Rock Stars.

May 2020

  • Even though global events prevented us from holding a formal ceremony, the Coles College of Business has selected 18 students as the winners of the 2019-2020 Outstanding Student Awards. One student from each academic program – and two from the Executive MBA program – have received this distinguished honor. In lieu of the ceremony typically held each spring, we have created a page on our website recognizing the recipients. All faculty and staff should also have received an email announcing the winners. I encourage you all to reach out and offer your congratulations. Most of the winners graduated this semester, and likely have strong feelings about not having a traditional awards ceremony. Words of encouragement from the faculty they admire would definitely mean a lot to them.

  • Although all students on campus have been affected by the switch to online learning, the hundreds of students who planned to study abroad this spring are experiencing a unique disappointment. That is why Mona Sinha, who was originally leading a trip to Italy this month, found unique ways to bring Italy to her students. Earlier this month, 15 students in Mona’s comparative business systems MBA course took part in a live, virtual cooking class with the owner of Bellina Alimentari, an authentic Italian restaurant in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to participate in this experience as well. All the students had a great time learning to make pizza and pasta while learning about Italian history and culture. Other cultural activities Mona worked into her course include bringing in local and international wine experts to present to her class and working with Anthony Rizzuto, chair of the Department of Architecture, and Philip Kiernan, professor of art history, to host presentations – all virtually. Because she couldn’t bring her students to Italy, Mona has been determined to bring Italy to her students.

  • The sixth issue of the Coles College Research Magazine was published earlier this month. Featuring summaries of research conducted or published throughout the academic year, the magazine provides a glimpse into the many ways our faculty contribute to the study of business beyond their work in the classroom. Research included in this year’s magazine touches on several fascinating business questions, like how do auditors react to their clients’ suspect accounting practices, what impact does terrorism have on human capital, and does the gender of an organization’s CEO can affect their corporate philanthropy. While we usually provide all faculty and staff with a copy of the Research Magazine at the end-of-the-year meeting, we have made the current issue available online. Visit the Online Coles Research Magazine to read how Coles College faculty are furthering our understanding of business.

  • Two alumni of the Coles College’s PhD in Business Administration program – Luke Hopkins and Joie Hain – have recently been recognized by their home institutions, with one being named to a prominent leadership position. Luke, who graduated from the program in 2013 with a concentration in marketing, has been named director of the James M. Seneff Honors Program at Florida State University’s College of Business, where he is also a professor of marketing. Like our own Coles Scholars Program, the Seneff Honors Program provides an especially rigorous curriculum for exceptional business students. Meanwhile, Joie, also a marketing graduate, was this month named Business Professor of the Year at Clayton State University, where she teaches digital marketing and professional selling to undergraduate and MBA students. These successes reinforce our doctoral program’s focus on preparing academics to further their careers.

 

April 2020

  • Reimagining the National Collegiate Sales Competition and the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition as virtual events didn’t stop Coles College students from winning first place in both. Join me in congratulating the students on our sales and cyber defense teams for their amazing performances. Their victory in the SECCDC, which saw six regional schools competing to represent the Southeast at next month’s national competition, is the first time Kennesaw State has won the competition in its 15-year history. Meanwhile, the Coles College sales team triumphed over 69 other teams from across the nation, giving Kennesaw State its third first-place NCSC finish in 22 years. These competitions reveal our students’ mastery of their subjects, as well as our faculty’s ingenuity at rapidly adapting the events to changing circumstances.
  • The BSides Atlanta Conference typically attracts information security students and professionals from around the city to share the latest trends in their industry. This year, however, taking the event online saw attendance skyrocket to more than 1,000 people from 16 different countries. Information Security and Assurance lecturer Andy Green, who is one of the event’s chief organizers, reached out to the global BSides community who encouraged their audiences to attend. Since attendance this year was divorced from a person’s physical location, IS professionals from around the world took the opportunity to log in and hear from 40 expert presenters, including our very own Sonia Toson and a panel of Information Security and Assurance graduates. While Andy is eager to return to a traditional in-person event for next year’s BSides, he acknowledged that it was nice to help the Coles College gain some international exposure.
  • Last week’s Symposium of Student Scholars saw nearly 350 undergraduate students take to the virtual stage to showcase their research. Just under one-third of those were Coles College students due to Mona Sinha requiring all 90 of her international marketing students to present. While she has encouraged participation in the symposium in the past, this was the first year that it became mandatory. Mona is a passionate advocate for helping undergraduate students develop their research and presentation skills, and this experience went a long way towards preparing these students for life after college. The 90 students presented case studies outlining challenges that businesses founded in one country faced when moving into another. Although social distancing requirements meant the presentations were held on Microsoft Teams instead of on campus, her students did an excellent job discussing their findings with the judges and other attendees.
  • Coles College student Morgan Turner’s unique business idea earned him the top spot in February’s Owl Venture Competition hosted by the Robin and Douglas Shore Entrepreneurship Center. He will go on to compete in a statewide entrepreneurship competition organized by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Morgan was one of 10 student entrepreneurs across Kennesaw State to submit their business ideas to the Owl Venture Competition, with the winning business representing Kennesaw State at the Georgia InVenture Competition. His business, called Self-Made Prosthetics, manufactures prosthetics to non-surgically alter the appearance of transgendered people assigned female at birth, allowing their body image to more closely match their gender identity. Morgan, an integrative studies major and an entrepreneurship minor, is working with Mechatronics Engineering Interim Chair Kevin McFall and mechatronics student Justin Swiderski to bring his idea to fruition. The Georgia InVenture Competition has been postponed, but Morgan will compete once it is rescheduled.
  • Just weeks after winning the CFA Institute Southern Classic, the Coles College Student Managed Investment Fund placed in the top 10 at the CFA Institute Americas Regional Semi-Finals, meaning they will compete in the Americas finals tomorrow. Kennesaw State will have to win against four other teams from North and South America in order to advance to the global competition. The CFA Research Challenge tests students on key skills related to financial analysis and ethics. It helps develop their analytical, valuation, and report-writing skills. This is the fourth year that Kennesaw State’s SMIF has participated in the CFA Research Challenge, and the second time they have won the Southern Classic. Let’s wish our talented SMIF students good luck in tomorrow’s event.

March 2020

  • As current events continue to evolve, I want to thank all the Coles College faculty and staff for your cooperation in taking the necessary steps to ensure continuity for our students. I am appreciative that you all attended one of our two continuity plan meetings last week, where you learned about several technology tools to assist you as the University prepares to move to remote learning. As a reminder, the University has created a series of FAQs specifically for faculty and staff that should answer many questions you may have. You can find those documents – as well as other updates – at coronavirus.kennesaw.edu. While we are navigating uncharted waters, I have nothing but confidence in this team’s ability to guarantee that the Coles College of Business’s students and other stakeholders will continue to receive the excellent level of service they have come to expect.

  • The Student Managed Investment Fund recently celebrated 10 years of active trading with an awards ceremony honoring its exceptional students as well as the faculty and industry partners who have prepared its members for exciting jobs in the financial industry. Held March 5 at The Buckhead Club, the event presented 11 current and former SMIF students with awards recognizing accomplishments like best stock selection, outstanding analyst, and market excellence. Current students also had an excellent opportunity to network with alumni and finance professionals. One of the event’s highlights was a fireside chat with Marc Lasry, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Dennis Lockhart, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Formed thanks to a generous $100,000 from Henssler Financial, Kennesaw State’s SMIF has gone on to win multiple national competitions and place students in jobs at high-profile financial organizations.
  • Kennesaw Marketing Association students have taken the top prize at two separate competitions in recent weeks, including one that could directly lead to new career opportunities for the winners. Lenny Jiminez, Laura Stallings, and Amber Griffin won first place in the Amazon Case Competition at last month’s Morehouse Marketing Conclave. Representatives from the e-commerce giant judged the competition, choosing our students’ marketing plan over plans from students at Morehouse College and North Carolina A&T. The winners received Amazon Alexa devices and were invited to interview for marketing and HR jobs at Amazon. Lenny and Laura were also winners at this month’s Digital Marketing Competition sponsored by Solid Source Realty. Competing against teams from Kennesaw State, Clayton State, and Morehouse College, the two won first place and the award for best strategy. These victories are a testament to the quality of our students and to the value of a Coles College education.
  • The Coles College of Business earned some important international recognition in recent weeks, with CEO Magazine ranking the Executive MBA program No. 1 in Georgia and Brigham Young University listing Kennesaw State University as one of the top institutions in the world for accounting research. CEO Magazine’s rank is based on several criteria, including quality of faculty, class size, and professional development opportunities. Meanwhile, BYU’s annual ranking of university research output in 12 top accounting journals during the last six years ranks Kennesaw State 61st out of more than 800 global institutions. Eight Coles College faculty are also among the top 1,000 most-published accounting researchers in the world. These rankings speak to the College’s diverse strengths and its ability to lead the way on multiple fronts.

February 2020

  • When I accepted the role of interim dean last February, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I experienced was an exciting year of collaborating with faculty, staff, students, and community partners to advance key initiatives across the College. Now, as I begin my tenure as dean, I will maintain that level of collaboration as we work to launch two new degree programs in the fall and continue our efforts to establish Kennesaw State University as one of the top R2 research institutions in the country. I am honored to have this chance to serve as your dean. I promise to dedicate myself to creating academic opportunities for our students, providing training and support for our faculty and staff, and building beneficial partnerships with the business community.
  • The Coles College is adding two new degree programs to its already-comprehensive portfolio this fall. Last week, the Board of Regents approved the creation of a Bachelor of Business Administration in Hospitality Management and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. The hospitality degree will be aided by a generous contribution from Michael Leven, former chairman and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium and the namesake of the Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality. Meanwhile, the MS in Cybersecurity is the latest initiative of the Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development, a collaboration between the Coles College, the College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Both degrees will allow the College to meet the employment needs of two fast-growing industries.
  • Following an extensive quality review, the Coles College once again earned accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. This honor comes after countless faculty and staff worked tirelessly in the fall to help tell the College’s story to the AACSB. Between compiling the detailed written report and attending meetings with AACSB representatives during their on-campus visit, their efforts demonstrated the College’s dedication to its students and to continuous improvement. The AACSB renewed the Coles College’s accreditation in business and in accounting, meaning we remain one of the 2 percent of business schools worldwide accredited in both. Given the outstanding work of our team during this process, I have no doubt that we will be prepared for success again during the next renewal period in five years.
  • The College is hosting two unique presenters this semester as part of the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series: Emmy-winning journalist John Stossel and Nadia Theodore, the consul general of Canada for the Southeastern United States. John should be familiar to many of us for his 28-year career as a consumer reporter for 20/20 on ABC. Nadia has been in the Canadian Civil Service since 2000 and, in her role as consul general, works to build business and cultural connections between the U.S. and Canada. While both speakers have very different backgrounds, each offers valuable perspectives on what qualities make a strong leader. Demonstrating the multiple forms leadership can take has been one of the primary goals of the Tetley Distinguished Leader Series since it was established 30 years ago. Please encourage your students to attend John Stossel’s presentation on March 13 and Nadia Theodore’s on April 16. 

January 2020

  • Join me in congratulating longtime accounting professor Dana Hermanson for recently receiving the Outstanding Educator Award from the American Accounting Association’s Auditing Section. The award celebrates Dana’s excellence in the classroom and his prolific body of research. He accepted the award on Friday, Jan. 17, at the AAA Auditing Section’s midyear meeting in Houston, Texas. Dana is one of the most accomplished accounting researchers in the world. He has published more than 100 papers on accounting fraud, corporate governance, and doctoral accounting education, and has been cited more than 11,000 times. In 2018, Brigham Young University named him as the 24th most productive accounting researcher in the world. It is an honor to have an educator and researcher of Dana’s caliber working in our College. This award is well deserved.

  • If you check out the latest issue of the Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research, you will see some familiar faces. For the first time in the journal’s nine-year history, students from the Coles College have research appearing in the publication. International marketing students Clay Wilderman, Rachael Amatriain, and Jackson Lott each have papers in volume 6, issue 2 of KJUR, as does information systems student Kyle Sicard. I am proud of our four students – all of whom have graduated since beginning their research – and want to thank Drs. Mona Sinha and Herb Mattord for helping them develop their projects. Publishing research in a peer-reviewed journal is an amazing accomplishment for any researcher. Doing so as an undergraduate is a great way to jump start their careers. You can access the students’ work by reading the current issue of KJUR.

  • The Coles College’s own Dr. Adriane Randolph was a keynote speaker at last week’s Dr. King Legacy Luncheon, which kicked off a week of events honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Adriane, who is a professor of information systems and the executive director of the BrainLab, spoke about the importance of “Identifying the Superhero in You.” She shared stories from her life growing up as a person of color pursuing a career in STEM, and encouraged the faculty, staff, and administrators in attendance to follow their dreams. University President Pamela Whitten personally invited Adriane to speak at the event, which was organized by Kennesaw State’s Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Sylvia Carey-Butler. Speaking at the Legacy Luncheon gave Adriane the opportunity to do what she does every day in her classes and in the lab: inspire others to achieve their goals. 
  • Next month, a celebrated expert in college teaching practices will visit the Coles College for a two-day workshop that is sure to give you excellent ideas for energizing your classroom. Dr. Harvey J. Brightman, Regents Professor Emeritus of Managerial Sciences at Georgia State University, will lead the workshop “Improving Student Outcomes” Feb. 24 and 25 in KSU Center 401. Harvey taught GSU’s doctoral seminar on university-level teaching from 1976 to 2001, and has directed the Master Teacher Program – a workshop series dedicated to enhancing college-level teaching – for more than 30 years. The workshop will cover understanding your students’ learning styles, organizing courses in ways that hook students, and encouraging students to be critical thinkers. This exciting opportunity is the latest in Dr. Justin Cochran’s learning initiatives program, launched to help Coles College faculty continue to grow as educators. Watch your inboxes for additional details on how you can sign up for this valuable workshop.

December 2019

  • With Information Systems Professor Solon Nagesh recently named as Kennesaw State’s new Fintech Director, I want to thank all the faculty who have assisted in helping build student interest in the University’s growing library of financial technology courses. Kennesaw State is one of 26 USG institutions that make up the Georgia Fintech Academy, whose goal is to standardize fintech education across the state and ensure Georgia’s students are prepared for careers in the industry. Solomon is now KSU’s liaison to the Academy. Under his leadership, the Coles College and the College of Computing and Software Engineering are not only building interest in existing fintech courses, they are working to create new ones as well. By helping Solomon spread the word about these opportunities, you are helping improve fintech education at Kennesaw State and across Georgia.
  • PhD Student Jason Williams is in Germany this week representing Kennesaw State University and the Coles College at the International Conference of Information Systems Doctoral Consortium in Munich, which is one of the most exclusive events of its kind. Jason is one of only 40 students in the world – and 12 from the United States – to attend the consortium, where he will meet with other IS doctoral students to share research and help develop each other’s projects. Jason earned his invitation thanks to his impressive research on the “Theory of Workplace IT.” By looking at how people use technology in their jobs, he hopes to demonstrate which professional situations warrant innovative technology solutions, and which do not. Jason’s experience at the consortium will help him improve his research, and will prepare him for his dream job as an information systems professor.
  • Last week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle “Business of Entertainment” event featured several Coles College connections, including Bryan Calhoun, director of artist marketing and industry relations for Pandora, who is also the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program’s executive in residence. The event brought together major players in the state’s film, tv, music, and videogame industries. Bryan, who has 25 years of experience marketing popular musicians, led a panel discussion on Georgia’s role in the music business that also featured MEBUS artist in residence John Driskell Hopkins, a founding member of the Zac Brown Band. Since August, Bryan has been working with MEBUS students on artist marketing projects. Bryan’s presence in the classroom – as well as at industry events like “Business of Entertainment” – is another reason why the Coles College’s MEBUS program is recognized nationally for its unique student experience.
  • The changes to the Hughes Leadership and Career program we rolled out this semester to students in BUSA 2150 are expanding to the entire program once we return from the holiday break. Thanks to the Flight Academy engagement platform, the Hughes program is successfully evolving to focus less on graded assignments, and more on enriching, career-enhancing experiences. The team in Undergraduate Programs has been hard at work for quite some time developing these changes, which encourage students to attend more engagement activities, meet with people working in their desired fields, and seek out professional development. As we prepare to roll the changes out to BUSA 3150 and 4150 next semester, we are eager to give more students the opportunity to think critically about preparing for success after graduation.

November 2019

  • Keith Perissi, director of the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program, was sworn into the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Office Advisory Board by Governor Brian Kemp during a ceremony at the state capitol. As a member of the board, Keith will have the opportunity to work with elected officials to help shape the state’s policies regarding Georgia’s multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry. The advisory board includes 18 individuals working in entertainment-related fields, with Keith representing education. Keith says his main goal on the board will be to ensure Georgia continues to create new and exciting jobs in the entertainment industry for college students and graduates.
  • Kennesaw State’s Student Managed Investment Fund recently won first place in the Kaplan poster session competition at the SMIF Consortium Conference in Chicago. Twelve teams from across the country presented posters highlighting their funds’ performance, including Indiana State University, University of Alaska, and University of Georgia. Judges were particularly impressed by the Kennesaw State team’s Sharpe Ratio (returns based on risk), which reflects the fund’s low-risk/high-return performance. The first-place finish also recognizes the team’s well-designed poster and their ability to interact with the judges. Congratulations to students Nicholas Busson, Solomon Dodson, Luis Ramirez, and Thomas Young on this victory.
  • For the fifth year in a row, students in the Michael J. Coles College of Business Master of Business Administration program have won first place in the LINKS Global Supply Chain competition. The competition, which tasks students with making supply chain decisions for a fictional set-top box company, is broken up into two separate competitions, called industries, with six-to-seven teams each. While Kennesaw State teams have won for the last five years, this was the first year they won both industries. Team one included students Armon Ansari, Troy Bon, Justin Narcisse, and Chris Posey; and team two included Boakai Dorley, James Lewis, and Scott Pace. Our students beat teams from schools like Georgia Tech, Lehigh University, and Florida Atlantic University.
  • The Coles College’s Offensive Security Research Club placed third in last month’s Southeastern Collegiate Penetration Competition, which reflects not only their skills at network infiltration, but also at business communication. Eleven regional universities participated in the competition, with Kennesaw State finishing higher than any other Georgia school. The team, consisting of students Emily Gilmer, Zack Marotta, Aaron Russell, MacKenzie Erikson, Arash Negahdar, Armaan Esfahani, and Major Taylor, searched for vulnerabilities in a fictional bank’s computer network. In addition, they had to draft reports to stakeholders across the business outlining the issues and associated risks. The focus on business communication is what sets this competition apart from other cybersecurity events, and what makes our team’s third place finish more meaningful.

  • The KSU Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development (ICWD) and Coles College professors Drs. Mike Whitman and Herb Mattord hosted the 16th annual Conference on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice at KSU Center Oct. 11 -12. Since the conference's inception in 2004, the Center for Information Security Education, and now the ICWD, have hosted more 300 faculty and student academic papers and presentations. The College publishes these presentations in the KSU Digital Commons. This year, the event featured an industry day where cybersecurity professionals presented as part of KSU Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The following day saw 16 papers presented on a variety of topics including pedagogical- and research-focused cybersecurity developments. Hosting the CCERP each year continues to place the Coles College of Business at the forefront of cybersecurity education. 

October 2019

  • Please join me today in welcoming the representatives from AACSB as they conduct their on-site visit as part of the College’s accreditation review. This week is the culmination of countless hours of work from our dedicated faculty and staff. From compiling an absolutely stellar accreditation report to helping coordinate this week’s visit, everyone has stepped up to the challenge of preparing for this important occasion. The review team will be on campus conducting interviews throughout the day before wrapping up their visit tomorrow with a meeting in the President’s Office. Our College’s dual AACSB accreditation in business and accounting is a true differentiator and something we wear as a badge of honor. Thank you to everyone for your work in helping us maintain this proud distinction.
  • Associate Professor of Business Law Sonia Toson last month became the Coles College’s first-ever director of diversity relations. This new role will allow Sonia to work closely with various stakeholders to promote diversity and inclusion in the College. In 2015, the White House met with leaders from more than 150 AACSB-accredited schools to discuss the challenges of attracting women and minority students. From that meeting, AACSB created a series of best practices surrounding diversity and inclusion. One of Sonia’s first goals is for the Coles College to become a signatory school in this program, which demonstrates the College’s commitment to these best practices. It is exciting to have Sonia guiding our efforts, and I have no doubt that we will make great strides in diversity and inclusion under her leadership.
  • When The Home Depot’s Southern Division President Hector Padilla spoke to our students earlier this month, he offered excellent advice on how they can achieve success in their careers and lives. Hector was the first fall speaker in the College’s long-running Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series. Drawing from his own experience beginning his career as a floor worker earning $6 an hour, Hector attributed his success to intentionality, relationship building, and lifelong learning. While much of his talk emphasized the importance of hard work, he also warned against the perils of working too much, saying that success doesn’t have to mean 60-hour weeks. It is vital that people achieve the right work-life balance.
  • The Coles College hosted two separate symposiums last week – one on social engineering and another on homeland security research – that saw some of the brightest minds in their respective fields sharing their insights with our students. On Wednesday, the Department of Information Systems held a Symposium on Social Engineering featuring two cybersecurity experts discussing how criminals take advantage of people to gain access to sensitive data. The following day, the College’s Director of Research Jomon Paul partnered with the Bagwell Center on the second annual Research Symposium on Homeland Security. This event brought world-class researchers from around the country to present their work on better understanding responses to natural disasters and other threats. The success of both events helps further establish the Coles College’s reputation as a home for innovative thoughts and perspectives.

September 2019

  • I greatly appreciate all the faculty, staff, and especially students who attended the recent presentation from our current executive in residence, Georgia Aquarium President and Chief Operating Officer Joe Handy. Joe shared his incredible career journey with a classroom of students, telling the story of how he went from wanting to be an attorney to helping open and lead one of the world’s largest aquariums. His passion for helping others first inspired him to pursue the law, but he quickly found working in museums scratched the same itch. Joe is a Coles Advisory Board member and an alum of the EMBA program, where he continues to mentor students in the executive coaching program. Joe is a true friend of the College.

  • If you’ve ever wondered how cybercriminals are able to trick people and businesses into sending them billions of dollars each year, then you want to check out the Department of Information Systems’ upcoming free Symposium on Social Engineering. On Oct. 9, cybersecurity experts Joe Gray and Jenny Radcliffe will speak on campus to future and aspiring information security professionals about social engineering, which are the tricks attackers use to hack people – not computers – and gain access to their money.

  • I’d like to congratulate the staff in Coles College Undergraduate Programs for the successful launch of the ambitious new Coles Flight Academy program. The platform, which sees students earning points for participating in development activities, has been active since the first day of classes and is already encouraging students to become more engaged in the College’s programs and to think more about their future career opportunities. While we are still experiencing some growing pains as we work to roll the Flight Academy out to all students, I’m excited to have the Flight Academy become a core piece of the Coles College experience.
  • Dr. Marcus Marktanner recently returned from a visit to Indonesia where he spoke at the office of Dr. Anis Baswedan, Jakarta’s governor, who many believe will become Indonesia’s next president. Marcus was there to present at a workshop on social and ecological market economies. Hosted by the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta; the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, German political foundation and think tank; and Paramadina University, the workshop received attention from Indonesia’s national media. The experience allowed Marcus to act as a global ambassador for the Coles College of Business and Kennesaw State University.

August 2019

  • The Coles College’s own Dr. Mike Whitman is now helping guide the trajectory of the University’s nationally recognized cybersecurity degree program. Mike, who is a Professor of Information Security and Assurance, was just named Executive Director of the Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development, which manages the University’s B.S. in Cybersecurity. The degree is an interdisciplinary program housed within the Coles College, the College of Computing and Software Engineering, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The ICWD – and Mike as its executive director – coordinate with each of the participating schools to schedule courses, hire faculty, and represent the program. Mike has taught ISA at the Coles College for 21 years and is also Executive Director of the Center for Information Security Education. 

  • All of Metro Atlanta recently learned how amazing the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program is when Atlanta’s NPR station interviewed Program Director Keith Perissi and MEBUS student Dani Klekot on the July 26 episode of Closer Look with Rose Scott. The in-depth interview touched on the program’s history, its close relationships with entertainment industry businesses and insiders, and its two-year stint on Billboard Magazine’s list of the top music business programs. Dani shared how the MEBUS program inspired her to pursue a career in public relations, citing a visit to Sony Music as part of the program’s annual education abroad trip to London with demonstrating to her the power and creativity possible in marketing and PR. I encourage everyone to listen to the interview for a reminder of how the work we do motivates students.

  • Coles College alumnus Brian Pendley will return to the Burruss Building in November to host the fall semester’s second Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series event. Brian, who is currently a partner at Ernst & Young, graduated summa cum laude in 1994 with an accounting degree. During his time as an undergraduate, Brian was president of the Kennesaw State Accounting Club (now an official chapter of Beta Alpha Psi) and was treasurer of the Golden Key International Honor Society. Brian has been a member of the Coles College Advisory Board for 18 years, and last year received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. His presentation will be the second of two Tetley events this fall, coming a month after Hector Padilla, Home Depot’s Southern Division President, speaks about the value of career planning.
  • Congratulations to the nearly 300 Coles College undergraduate students who received their diplomas at the summer Commencement ceremony on July 25, and to the faculty and staff that helped them reach this important milestone in their lives. In all, 287 Coles College students walked during the ceremony. Of the about 1,100 undergraduates from across the University participating in Commencement, more than 25 percent earned Coles College degrees. I am positive that I speak for the entire College when I say that watching each new graduating class reach the end of one journey and the start of another is a true highlight of being a part of the Coles College and of Kennesaw State University.

July 2019

  • The Coles College of Business has booked some solid guest speakers for the fall Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series, including Joe Handy, President of the Georgia Aquarium, and Hector Padilla, President of Home Depot’s Southern Division. Both speakers are trustees with the Kennesaw State University Foundation and have deep ties to the University and the Coles College. Joe, who has 20 years of experience working for cultural institutions, including being a part of the Aquarium’s founding team in 2005, will speak on Sept. 12. Hector, who started his career at Home Depot in 1994 as an hourly store associate before working his way up to Southern Division President, will present on Oct. 3. I ask that all faculty encourage their students to take advantage of these opportunities to learn from two incredible local leaders.
  • Quacquarelli Symonds – one of the most prominent ranking organizations in higher education – last month recognized the Coles College of Business WebMBA program as one of the top online MBAs in the world. The program was ranked 23rd in QS’s 2019 Online MBA Rankings report, which ranked the top 40 programs based on their student profile, employability of graduates, quality of faculty and teaching, and the overall class experience. Kennesaw State University is the only university in Georgia to make the list. This ranking is the most recent of many earned this year by the program, and serves as a reminder of the exceptional quality of the WebMBA’s faculty, staff, and graduates.
  • With the Coles College preparing to launch a new undergraduate degree in hospitality management, AAHOA, the trade association representing the owners of half the country’s hotels, has endowed an annual scholarship for exceptional students enrolled in the program. The Michael Leven and Lee Dushoff AAHOA Scholarship for Compassionate Leadership, named for two of AAHOA’s founding members (including the Leven School’s namesake), will provide valuable tuition assistance to recipients, as well as opportunities to visit the organization’s Atlanta headquarters and meet with the board of directors. The University recently started a fundraising campaign to ensure that the scholarship can support hospitality management students for years to come.
  • For the second year in a row, BestColleges.com featured the Coles College’s BBA in Marketing program in its annual listing of the Best Online Bachelor’s in Marketing Programs. Coming in at number 18, the program moved up two positions year-over-year. BestColleges rates each institution based on their online marketing degree’s academics and learner support, affordability, and online programming. Ensuring that we provide our online learners with a quality education is an important goal for the College as we move forward, and rankings such as this demonstrate that those efforts do not go unnoticed. 

June 2019

  • Coles College saw an 8 percent increase this year in students taking summer classes, following a campus-wide push to encourage summer enrollment. These numbers mean our college currently has the second-highest summer enrollment on campus. Increasing summer enrollment this year was an important goal for President Pamela Whitten, who sees it as a way to help ensure Kennesaw State students graduate within the traditional four-year window. I was happy to see all of the marketing materials around the building and on social media emphasizing to students the value of summer classes in helping them graduate on time. Thank you to everyone who dedicated their valuable time to pushing this important university initiative.  
  • Last month, Ruben Mocuta became the first student to graduate from Coles College’s Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity degree program. An exceptional student with an impressive work ethic, Ruben is the first in what is sure to be a long line of impressive cybersecurity graduates. He chose Kennesaw State specifically for our first-of-its-kind cybersecurity program, and took an impressive course load in order to earn his degree in two years. Last semester, Ruben became an intern with Home Depot’s Security Operations Center. Now that he’s earned his degree, the company hired him full time as a security analyst/systems security engineer. With more than 200 students in the young program, I’m sure we can expect success stories like this to become the norm.
  • Representatives from shipping organizations around the world will meet at Coles College’s Modular Agile Development Lab next week to discuss developing technology standards to help improve safety on shipping vessels and prevent costly accidents. The International Standards Organization’s TC8 Software Maintenance committee will be in Prillaman Hall June 18-20. Participants include stakeholders from the U.S., Japan, Korea, China, Germany, and Denmark. The Danish guests are from Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company. The committee hopes to establish consistent standards for how devices like voyage data recorders and GPS trackers share data, which would help investigators better determine the causes of shipping accidents. Dr. Dominic Thomas was instrumental in bringing the ISO to Coles College for this important conference.
  • More than 250 Coles College students participated in education abroad experiences this academic year, with our faculty leading programs in Italy, Ireland, the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, Greece, Colombia, and China. In addition to providing incredible insights into other cultures, these programs give students opportunities to gain a wider understanding of international business. Students on Dr. Keith Tudor’s program to Ireland last month met with Fáilte Ireland, the country’s national tourism development authority, while those on Keith Perissi’s Music and Entertainment Business program to London discussed digital marketing strategies in a Sony Entertainment executive boardroom. Offering international experiences is an essential part of a comprehensive business education, and I appreciate all the efforts of our faculty and staff to make these programs available to our students.

May 2019

  • On Tuesday, 382 Coles College students entered the Convocation Center, and 382 valued alumni walked out. In addition, more than 100 students who did not attend commencement ceremonies also earned degrees. I am so proud of all of our graduates for their hard work and dedication, and of the Coles College faculty and staff who never waiver in their support of student success. Graduation is always a great time to take stock of the work we do as educators and support professionals. Thank you all for helping our students in the Coles College of Business achieve their full potential.
  • The joint Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society induction and Outstanding Students Award ceremony saw some of the college’s most exceptional students celebrating their academic achievements. We had 66 graduates and undergraduates inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the world’s most prestigious business student honor society. Meanwhile, 16 students from each of Coles College’s academic programs received Outstanding Student Awards. Finally, the event allowed us to recognize the fourth graduating cohort of the Coles Scholars program. Tying everything together was our exceptional keynote speaker and BGS honorary inductee Michele Velcheck, whose story of going from a military police officer to one of Atlanta’s most successful entrepreneurs will surely ignite our students’ ambitions.
  • I’m excited to share with you that we have officially launched the third location in our nationally ranked and accredited MBA program. In addition to our on-campus and Cobb Galleria offerings, students can now take classes at the state-of-the-art City Springs Complex in Sandy Springs. Plans for the third location started last April. The University has been working closely with the City of Sandy Springs and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools ever since to launch the program. Sandy Springs is home to one of the highest concentrations of working professionals in Metro Atlanta, making it the ideal choice to offer our MBA program. Students will be able to take advantage of the facility beginning this fall.
  • The Igniting New Companies Pitch Competition – organized by the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center and Ignite HQ – provided six KSU student entrepreneurs with an opportunity to earn funding for their businesses. Each student pitched their idea to a panel of judges made up of area business leaders, vying for the grand prize of $1,500 in funding, plus three months of free services from the Ignite HQ business incubator. Electrical engineering student Caleb Gilbert won for his business Esgro, a payment application designed for workers in the gig economy. Other businesses pitched during the competition include flushable wet wipes and a café were customers cuddle with live rabbits. It is great to see the college partnering with the local business community to encourage young entrepreneurs.  

April 2019

  • I am proud of all the Coles College faculty and staff who stepped up last week to make the National Conference on Undergraduate Research a success, and of the many Coles College students who presented some very exciting research projects. Like marketing major Zahra Deinde-Smith, who explored how racial minorities value privacy in relation to genetic testing, or finance major Alyssa Baird, whose research found that college students are becoming more averse to taking financial risks. It was also fulfilling to see so many Coles College students, faculty, and staff volunteering at NCUR. With nearly 5,000 students on campus from across the country, NCUR allowed Kennesaw State and Coles College to show off our beautiful campus, state-of-the-art facilities, and excellent people.
  • Rob Hale, co-founder and CEO of Granite Telecommunications and co-owner of the Boston Celtics, recently shared some valuable advice with our students on the importance of always following their passions. Rob was the latest speaker in Coles College’s Tetley Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series. As one of the most respected and philanthropic entrepreneurs in the country, it was a pleasure to have him inspire our students to take risks and to learn from failure. Rob’s own career has seen its fair share of setbacks – he lost over $1 billion in 2002 when his first company collapsed – but each failure taught him a lesson that helped him succeed later. After the presentation, Rob stayed behind for nearly 45 minutes answering questions from our students and even giving some of them details on how they could come work for him.
  • More than 150 sales students from 72 universities were at Coles College during Spring Break to compete in the National Collegiate Sales Competition, where Kennesaw State finished in the top 15. Organized each year by the Center for Professional Selling, the NCSC is the oldest and largest collegiate sales competition in the world. In addition to the traditional sales roleplays, this year’s event featured a speed-selling round as a way to involve the hundreds of students who attend, but don’t compete. In the main competition, Kennesaw State earned 13th overall, while KSU Sales Club President Megan Colapinto took 16th in the individual category. Hosting the NCSC each year is an honor for Coles College, as it allows us to highlight the value of sales as a noble profession, as well as Kennesaw State’s prowess in this area.
  • Coles College flexed its cybersecurity and digital media muscles with two strong showings in recent competitions. Our students finished second in the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition and third at the second annual Digital Media Competition. The SECCDC featured eight universities from across the Southeast competing to guard their computer systems from simulated attacks. Coles College has hosted the SECCDC each year since 2006. Meanwhile, on April 13th, seven teams from three universities participated in the Digital Media Competition, where they developed social media marketing strategies for Solid Source Real Estate, the event’s sponsor. While the Kennesaw State team took third place overall, student Jefferson Beard won the award for best strategy. Both the SECCDC and the Digital Media Competition provide our students with unique opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of the highly-specialized skills learned in the classroom.

March 2019

  • The 19th annual Lessons in Leadership event recognized senior EMBA student Kirsten Miles as the program’s 2019 Outstanding Scholar. A senior vice president at Bank of America, Kirsten has made a name for herself in the program for being an excellent student and leader. One of her most impressive accomplishments was organizing an effort with 20 fellow classmates to provide mentors for Year Up Atlanta, which helps minimum wage workers transition into more rewarding careers. The speaker at this year’s Lessons in Leadership – an event that provides past and present EMBA students with an excellent opportunity to grow their professional networks – was our namesake Michael Coles, who discussed the value of finding great mentors.
  • Eight exceptional family-owned firms received Family Business of the Year awards last month at the Cox Family Enterprise Center’s 25th annual honoration event. Held at the beautiful Flourish Atlanta venue in Buckhead, the event was an evening of celebrating the unique place family businesses have in the economy. Seven businesses took home awards in three categories: resilience (RefrigiWear, Dekalb Farmers Market, and DeNyse), sustainability (CKS Packaging, Beaumont Packaging, and J.M. Huber), and legacy (Blanchet & Calhoun). One company, Wellspring Associates, received the first-ever professional advisor honor, recognizing efforts to advance the family enterprise field. In addition to the awards, the event also featured insightful conversations with representatives of major family businesses like Sheraton Hotels, Purdue Chicken, Jack Cooper Holdings, and DeKuyper Royal Distillers.
  • Our college’s namesake returned to campus once again in February to share his inspirational life story with students when he hosted a talk in the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture series. Referencing the classic tale of David and Goliath, Michael motivated students to take risks while they are young, and not to be afraid of failure. Michael, co-founder of the Great American Cookie Company, has been a friend to the Coles College for many years, and it is always a treat when our students have the opportunity to listen to him speak. He fielded some excellent questions from students asking how they could achieve similar success. His answer was that the students already have the ability inside themselves to succeed; a powerful message that resonated with the audience.
  • The latest presentation in the College’s Learning Initiatives program continued the tradition established last semester of helping students think about new technologies that will likely directly impact their lives as they enter the workforce. Last week, Coles College hosted Jim Nasr, vice president of technology at Synchrogenix, who led a discussion about the future of blockchain technology, and how it could improve data security in financial transactions and the healthcare industry. Organized by Dr. Justin Cochran, the Learning Initiatives program is continuing to grow into something special that exposes our students to exciting new ideas and helps prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.    

February 2019

  • Fortune Onwuzuruike, one of the rising stars in the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program, received the exclusive Richard P. Covert Scholarship for Management Systems from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. He was in Orlando this week accepting the award at the HIMSS Global Conference and Exhibition. Onwuzuruike has shown nothing less than intense passion for learning everything he can about healthcare information technology. He says his parents – both immigrants from Nigeria – have encouraged him to pursue the highest level of education available to him. His mother also works as a nurse practitioner, and has instilled in him a profound respect for the healthcare industry. Onwuzuruike is currently a Security Analyst for Piedmont Healthcare and is a Graduate Research Assistant with Dr. Sweta Sneha, director of the MSHMI program. He was one of only four students nationally to receive scholarships this year from the HIMSS Foundation.

  • A current student in the Coles College Executive MBA program, Carmen Chubb, will become Chief of Staff for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Chubb, who is deputy commissioner for housing at the Georgia Department of Public Affairs for the last 25 years, will help guide the day-to-day operations of Atlanta’s mayor’s office when she assumes the role next month. Chubb is a lifelong learner, having earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia and completed professional education programs at institutions like the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In a statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Mayor Bottoms described Carmen as having “a strong track record of leadership.” It fills me with intense pride to see one of our students achieve something as impressive as this, and to know that her Coles College education will play an important role in her success and in the City of Atlanta’s success.

  • This week Dr. Benjamin Scafidi was in Washington, D.C. speaking to the U.S. Congress in a panel discussion about public school funding. The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor invited Ben to present at their panel “Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How Underfunded Public Education Shortchanges America’s Students.” Ben, who directs the Education Economics Center, is a recognized authority on the topic of educational funding. His research has been cited in academic journals more than 1,400 times, he regularly presents research at national and international conferences, and he has worked with two former Georgia governors to help craft education policy. The purpose of the Congressional panel was to examine whether school funding is to blame for issues facing many public schools, such as aging facilities, high faculty turnover, and falling test scores. Ben’s invitation to this event is a clear indication of the Coles College’s growing national reputation as a leader in business and economics expertise.

January 2019

  • With the untimely passing of Dr. Richard Mathisen, the Coles College has lost a dedicated educator who spent the last 30 years improving marketing education at Kennesaw State and beyond. Rick joined the University in summer of 1989 as a full professor following seven years of marketing positions at Southern Company. During the last three decades, Rick established himself as an accomplished researcher of business-to-business marketing strategies and of marketing education. As program chair of the Association for Marketing Theory and Practice, he co-developed an annual conference that allowed marketing faculty from around the world to share their insights on teaching. He also promoted marketing scholarship as editor of The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. Everyone within the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales and the Coles College of Business is saddened by this loss.
  • The 2018-2019 ‘Year of Michael Coles’ continues next month when our College’s namesake hosts the Tetley Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series event on Feb. 26. Please encourage your students to attend, as Michael will be offering valuable words of wisdom for all of our aspiring entrepreneurs. The theme of his presentation will be “Taking on Goliath." He will discuss three critical moments in his life where it looked like failure was his only option. By sharing with our students how he overcame those obstacles, Michael will inspire them to achieve success in their own lives. This will be an informative and engaging event that your students will find great value in attending.
  • Who is the best person to warn students about the dangers of unethical business behavior? How about someone whose own unethical behavior landed him in prison. On Feb. 19, Coles College will host reformed fraudster-turned government informant Richard Strong, who will lead the presentation “Business Ethics: Justifying Decisions and Impacts.” In 2012, Richard served 13 months in federal prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by accepting bribes while working in international sales. He received a reduced sentence because of his cooperation with the U.S and U.K. governments in one of the longest white-collar criminal investigations in history. As someone who paid the price for his unethical behavior, Richard is in a unique position to discuss the importance of business ethics.
  • Join me in congratulating Coles College students Jonnathan Palacios and Nejra Lilic for designing an inventory management system as a class project that will be implemented by a local business. The two Information Systems students developed the system using the Python programming language in Dr. Dominic Thomas’ application development course. Jonnathan, who works for Reliable Heating and Air as a senior data analyst, took advantage of a class assignment to make his job easier. While the goal was to simply build a functioning application, Jonnathan saw an opportunity to improve his company’s inventory management system. The company loved the work he and Nejra were doing and has now tasked Jonnathan with rolling the system out in the company. It is amazing to see Coles College students achieving such impressive professional accomplishments while still earning their undergraduate degrees.

December 2018

  • Last week a team of four MBA students became the winners of a 15-week-long interdisciplinary project to analyze real customer data from clothing company SPANX. Five teams of Kennesaw State graduate students competed to develop solutions to challenges the company faces, with the winning team receiving a check for $1,500. The teams included graduate students in business, computer science, information technology, and statistics. This opportunity to learn about business and data analysis by using real transaction records was made possible by Dr. Jennifer Priestly with the Analytics and Data Sciences Institute. Based on the success of this first project, Jennifer is currently working with three other Atlanta-area businesses to offer similar projects in the future.

  • The Coles College inducted more than 50 exceptional juniors, seniors, and graduate students into the Beta Gamma Sigma honors society this week. Available only to top students attending schools accredited by AACSB International, membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is an exclusive honor that will create networking opportunities and open many doors for these students. Our honorary inductee was Kristi Johnson, a Coles College alumnus, a partner at CPA firm Windham Brannon, and a member of the Coles College advisory board. I appreciate all the faculty who attended the induction ceremony to support the inductees, and am grateful to Kristi for speaking to the group about the value of hard work, dedication, and positive mentorship.

  • For the fourth year in a row, our MBA students took first place in the LINKS Global Supply Chain Competition, a seven-week simulation that puts students in control of all supply chain business decisions for a fictional company. Schools we finished ahead of include Florida Atlantic University, Kansas University, and the University of South Florida. Each year a small number of students in Dr. Michael Maloni’s core business operations class participate in the LINKS Competition, which requires a significant amount of work from the participants. Michael entered two teams into this year’s competition, with one earning first place in its league, and the other winning second. The students had to make decisions ranging from forecasting demand and setting inventory levels to managing procurement and sales and marketing.

  • In honor of Management Professor Dr. Satya Chakravorty’s recent passing, the Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship and Hospitality established a memorial scholarship in his name. All proceeds will fund scholarships for undergraduate management students. Satya dedicated more than 25 years of his life to helping Coles College students succeed. Now is our chance to ensure that he has the ability to continue doing that for years to come. Donations of any amount are acceptable and appreciated. Visit the Memorial Fund Homepage to make a contribution.

November 2018

  • I would like to thank each of you for extending a warm welcome to Debbie Pike, a close friend of Coles College and Kennesaw State University, who was on campus this week hosting the latest Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series event. I especially want to thank the faculty who encouraged their students to attend this amazing opportunity to learn from a true superstar in the marketing and brand management space. Between her current role as a principal at Meritage Restaurant Group and her previous roles at Arby’s and Proctor and Gamble, Debbie has learned how brands build relationships with their customers. On Wednesday, she showed students how an organization’s brand can influence everything from how it interacts with customers to how it makes hiring decisions. The Tetley series is one of the College’s flagship events. I am grateful to the the faculty and stuff for your continued support of this valuable series.   
  • President Pamela Whiten recently helped us achieve our goal of reclassifying the Doctor of Business Administration program as the PhD of Business Administration. The change, which went into effect in October, reflects the way the DBA program has evolved over the years. While originally conceived as an executive program, the faculty have continued to place more emphasis on students conducting scholarly research. In fact, many graduates have published their research in leading academic journals. Now that the change is finalized, all students enrolled in the DBA program will earn a PhD in Business Administration when they graduate. We are so excited to offer the University’s third PhD program.
  • In late September, the Coles College sent an impressive 20 students to present their research at the 43rd annual Atlantic Marketing Association Conference in New Orleans. This was the first time in the conference’s history where organizers invited students to present. With nine colleges sending 30 students total, the group of 20 from Coles College was by far the largest. In addition to making up the largest contingent, our students also took home several awards. Clay Wilderman received the Outstanding Undergraduate Case Study Award, Christine Billen won the Outstanding Graduate Abstract Award, and Mizzani Walker won the Outstanding Undergraduate Paper Award. Several Coles College faculty were involved in the decision to highlight student research during the conference, including AtMa Conference Chair Leila Borders and assistant professors of marketing Dr. Mona Sinha and Dr. Jennifer Hutchins.
  • Some of the leading national security researchers were on campus last month presenting at the Coles College Research Symposium on Homeland Security. Organized by Dr. Jomon Paul, Coles College’s director of research, the symposium attracted researchers from around the country – such as Dr. Vicki Bier from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Richard John with the University of Southern California – who joined with their colleagues from the Coles College to share insights into preventing and responding to natural disasters, terrorism, and cyberattacks. Jomon was inspired to develop the symposium when he noticed a number of Coles College faculty – including himself – were all conducting research in these areas. The symposium didn’t only include faculty research. PhD students from across campus, including a recent graduate of the Doctor of Business Administration Program (now a PhD program), also participated. The success of the event led Jomon to publish a special issue of the Coles Working Paper Series, and to host research symposiums each fall.

October 2018

  • I hope you are all encouraging your students to attend Wednesday’s Executive in Residence Day for Michael Coles, where our benefactor and namesake will share his remarkable life story and successful strategies for entrepreneurship. Michael’s selection as this year’s executive in residence coincides with the 25th anniversary of the naming of the Coles College of Business. In addition to learning about business success from Michael directly, all students at the event will receive a free copy of his new book, Time to Get Tough: How Cookies, Coffee, and a Crash Led to Success in Business and Life, co-authored by Catherine Lewis, assistant vice president for Museums, Archives and Rare Books. The event kicks off at 2:45 with a ribbon cutting for the new Michael Coles exhibit in the Burruss Building atrium, where everyone in attendance will get a piece of cookie cake. The Executive in Residence Day is sure to be equal parts educational, entertaining, and inspiring.
  • Last night I had the honor of inducting two new members into the Michael J. Coles College of Business Hall of Fame: Valery Voyles, chairman and CEO of Voyles Automotive Group, and Dr. Shelby Wilkes, vitreoretinal surgeon with Atlanta Eye Consultants. The Hall of Fame recognizes members of the business community who embody personal integrity, community leadership, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Valery and Shelby both demonstrate these qualities in abundance. Shelby has an MBA from Coles College and continues to serve on the College’s diversity committee. He is also a former advisory board member and currently mentors a student in the EMBA program. Valery has been recognized many times for her business’s success, including receiving the Cox Family Enterprise Center’s Family Business of the Year Award. Meanwhile, she fulfills her passion for giving back through her support of organizations like the Shepherd Center Foundation and the Cobb and Marietta City School Districts. Shelby and Valery are both worthy additions to our Hall of Fame.
  • Dr. Sweta Sneha was recently named a finalist to receive the Woman of the Year award from Women in Technology, an organization that promotes educational opportunities for women and girls in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. The Woman of the Year Award honors women who demonstrate leadership and vision in business. Sweta, who serves as director of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics degree program, is one of three finalists in the Medium/Mid-Size Business category, which also includes educational institutions. She is the chief architect of an innovative graduate degree program that trains Georgians to fill a statewide skill gap, which means her nomination comes as little surprise. The award ceremony will be held Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Georgia Aquarium.
  • The Department of Marketing and Professional Sales hosted an alumni-centric event last week that provided opportunities for networking and a chance to learn valuable business skills from several expert presenters. Gene Hammett, a frequent speaker on organizational culture, offered great insights into how “hypergrowth” businesses operate, while LinkedIn expert Gregg Burkhalter offered tips the attendees could use to grow their professional networks and their personal brands. There was also a great panel featuring Nelie Lynch with Georgia Pacific, Tara Moyet with United Way, and Kristin Bitter with Coca-Cola Company discussing how to develop killer marketing strategies. Events like this are important for keeping our alumni base excited about engaging with Coles College as they move through their careers.

September 2018

  • Visitors to this Saturday’s Kennesaw State University football game against Alabama State will get a special treat when the Owls welcomes our benefactor and namesake Michael J. Coles as one of two honorary captains, along with Kennesaw State’s new President Pamela Whitten. In his role as honorary captain, Michael will have the privilege of doing the coin-toss, meaning the fate of the entire game is literally in his hands. Michael will be joined in the end zone by his wife Donna and by Jim Dunn, Interim CEO of the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees. And if you want to learn more about our namesake, his book Time to Get Tough…How Cookies, Coffee, and a Crash Led to Success in Business and Life releases in October. As this year’s executive in residence, he will also be on campus on October 17 speaking to students and signing copies of the book.
  • I hope all of our Coles College of Business faculty made it out today to the launch of the new Learning Initiatives Program, which is a professional development project designed to help faculty stay up to date on the latest innovations in teaching. The first presentation featured Mike Stefanick, an Executive Director at Ernst & Young who focuses on emerging technologies like robotics, analytics, big data, and digital platforms. His discussion on “How Artificial Intelligence is Disrupting Work and Will Enable Workers to Thrive in the Next Digital Wave” was an eye-opening look at how AI will change the professional and educational landscape in the coming years. The series continues next month when Deloitte researcher Dr. Kelly Monahan will be in Burruss Building, Room 117 at 1 pm to discuss “Humans + Machines: Not Science Fiction Anymore.” She will also host a student-focused discussion at 2:15, so please let your classes know about this amazing opportunity. I want to thank Dr. Justin Cochran for organizing this exciting new Learning Initiatives Program. Visit the Learning Initiatives Program Homepage.
  • Last week, two RaceTrac executives and a Kennesaw State alumnus helped the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center kick off the Fall 2018 season of the hugely successful All-Access Business Series. John Rier, Executive Director of Financial Planning; Dayna Reed, Executive Director of Reporting and Insights; and Kennesaw State graduate Judith Bishop, Supply Chain Continuous Improvement Manager, spoke directly to Coles College undergraduate students about the qualities RaceTrac looks for in new hires. The three also shared their unique career stories and provided details about exciting internship opportunities available with RaceTrac. The All-Access Business Series provides our students with the rare experience of interacting one-on-one with important leaders at some of the Atlanta area’s most high-profile companies. Future All-Access events will feature representatives from Chick-Fil-A, Target, Walgreens, and more. See the full All-Access Schedule.
  • At last night’s meeting of the Professional Women’s Alliance held at the Cherokee Town and Country Club, attendees learned how they can work meditation into their routines to enhance their personal and professional lives. Jennell Evans, Practice Leader for Leadership Minds and Matters, led the presentation titled Mindfulness and Meditation: Essential Arsenal for Winning the War on Stress. During her discussion, she dismissed many of the misconceptions about meditation and shared how meditating once a day can improve focus and concentration. The PWA is a valuable program organized by Erin Wolf and the Coles College Women’s Leadership Center that sees area businesses working together to help women achieve leadership positions in their organizations. Businesses like ADP, AGCO, Holder Construction, PNC Bank, and more sponsored the event.

August 2018

  • Next year is the 25th anniversary of Michael Coles’ generous endowment that gave our college its name. In honor of this milestone, the 2018-2019 academic year at Coles College is “The Year of Michael J. Coles,” and features several opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to interact with our renowned benefactor. Michael gained national recognition by co-founding The Great American Cookie Company, serving as CEO of the Caribou Coffee Company, and setting multiple world records in cycling following a near-fatal motorcycle accident. If you want to learn more about Michael’s incredible story, I hope you can attend his Tetley Distinguished Leader series event in the spring. He will also be the sole presenter at next year’s Lessons in Leadership event, and will be on campus throughout the academic year hosting signings for his upcoming autobiography Time to Get Tough: How Cookies, Coffee, and a Crash Led to Success in Business and Life (all Coles College students will receive a complimentary copy of his book too). Please join me throughout the year in honoring an amazing entrepreneur and a fierce friend to the Coles College of Business.
  • Late last month Kennesaw State University and the Coles College of Business lost a dear friend with the passing of Jack Dinos. Jack, who first became involved with Kennesaw State in 1979, was instrumental in the founding of the Cox Family Enterprise Center, the oldest family business center in the world. Having served as president of his own family business – Mocha Coffee Company – from 1958 to 1968, Jack understood the challenges family businesses face. He endowed the Dinos Distinguished Chair of Private Enterprise, which laid the groundwork for what would become the Cox Family Enterprise Center. Jack continued to support Coles College for many years, including endowing the Dinos Eminent Scholar Chair of Entrepreneurial Management, a position I am extremely honored to hold. He is also responsible for the establishment of the Tetley Distinguished Leader lecture series, which Jack encouraged Tetley Tea Company to endow when they purchased Southern Tea Company from him and his brother in 1990. All of this is but a fraction of the amazing things Jack did on behalf of the Coles College of Business. He will be missed.
  • More than 20 students making up the first cohort from the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics received their diplomas last month, marking an impressive milestone for the young program, which combines information technology, computing, data analytics and healthcare delivery processes with leadership and management principles. The unique program was borne from a 2009 meeting of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on the explosive growth of Georgia’s Healthcare IT sector. Hoping to fill these new jobs with Georgia residents, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle called on Georgia’s universities to train students for these positions. With the MSHMI program, Kennesaw State was the first to answer the call. It has been amazing watching this program grow during the last two years; it has enhanced our College’s reputation in the growing healthcare IT industry.
  • The Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center has hired Dr. Birton Cowden to serve as the center’s first-ever research director. Birton joins Kennesaw State from the University of Massachusetts, where he co-founded the award-winning Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship. He brings with him a wealth of research experience, having had studies on corporate entrepreneurship and disruptive business models published in top entrepreneurship journals. In addition to overseeing the Entrepreneurship Center’s research activities, Birton will also be an associate professor in the College’s entrepreneurship degree program. Birton’s talents will aid the Entrepreneurship Center as it expands into powerful, relevant research, and will help strengthen the Coles College of Business’s position as a leader in entrepreneurship education. 

July 2018

  • When we welcome Pamela Whitten as Kennesaw State University’s newest president next week, we will also have the excitement of welcoming Ken Harmon back into the Michael J. Coles College of Business. Beginning July 15, Ken will return to the College as a faculty member in the School of Accountancy. Ken has done an outstanding job leading the University as interim president during the last five months, providing a consistent voice during a period of rapid change. He is a longtime member of the Coles College family, having previously served as dean and, prior to that, as director of the School of Accountancy. Ken is eager to return to the classroom, and will begin teaching an undergraduate accounting course this fall.
  • Congratulations to the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business program for earning Kennesaw State University a spot on Billboard’s list of the Top 15 music business programs. MEBUS is a truly extraordinary program that gives students real world experience working in the entertainment industry, including arranging externships at companies like EUE Screen Gems Studios, Live Nation, and Coca-Cola Studios, and leading an education abroad experience to London, where students meet with Sony Entertainment executives. MEBUS Director Keith Perssi, Associate Director Daniel Howes, and Project Coordinator Haley-Kate Daykin have put together an exceptional program that provides a business-oriented approach to helping students succeed in the entertainment industry. 
  • With the Coles College of Business and Kennesaw State University experiencing a great deal of change recently, this week’s meeting of the Coles College Staff Forum – entitled Thriving During Change – could not have come at a better time. The morning-long event was organized in partnership with the Center for University Learning and featured activities and discussions about how we react to changes in our personal and professional lives. One of the key takeaways was that people typically react negatively to change, even if the change is ultimately beneficial. If we can understand this about ourselves, hopefully we can better control how we approach handling change. I want to thank Coles Staff Forum Chair Raushanah Butler for putting together this timely opportunity for the Coles College staff to come together and address this relevant topic.
  • As you pass through the Burruss Building atrium, be sure to stop by our new donor wall near the east entrance. The installation highlights the nearly 500 donors that help make the amazing work we do here at the Coles College of Business possible, and speaks to the value of developing meaningful, long-lasting relationships with our community partners. In addition to listing our generous donors, the piece also features the College’s mission statement, and serves as an important reminder of what motivates all of us to aspire to more.

June 2018

  • With two Coles College of Business academic departments preparing for leadership changes next month, I want to thank Drs. Sheb True and Herb Mattord for stepping up and providing continuity during the transitions. Sheb has agreed to serve as the interim director of our MBA programs after Dr. Amy Henley leaves Kennesaw State University next month to become Dean of University of North Dakota’s College of Business and Public Administration. Meanwhile, Herb will assume the role of interim chair of the Department of Information Systems on July 1 following Dr. Traci Carte’s resignation from the position. Sheb’s previous experience managing the Coles College MBA programs and Herb’s current position as the IS Department’s Assistant Chair mean that I confidently say that both departments are in good hands while the College works to fill those roles permanently.

  • I want to congratulate Coles College senior Clint Crowe and his business Elite Event Rental on winning the 2018 KSU Top 100 business accelerator competition. As the winner, Clint received a $5,000 cash prize along with ongoing entrepreneurial support services to help continue to build his already-thriving business. Clint founded Elite Rental six years ago while he was still a first-year student at Kennesaw State University. After volunteering to help set up and breakdown tables at a local barbecue festival, he realized there was a market for organizations needing to rent tents, tables, chairs, stages, and more for their official functions, and started a business to meet that demand. Winning the KSU Top 100 is the culmination of a six-month process that saw Clint work alongside 99 other student entrepreneurs to learn the valuable skill of pitching their business ideas to potential investors. Thanks to the lessons learned during the KSU Top 100, as well as the cash prize, I am positive Clint and Elite Event Rental will continue to thrive.

  • Late last month, the Kennesaw State University Enactus team finished fourth in the semifinal round of the Enactus National Expo in Kansas City, putting them in the top 20 out of 90 competing teams. Our Enactus team, sponsored by Coles College faculty member Dennis Loubiere, presented on three socially responsible businesses operated by Kennesaw State students. These businesses - The Biz Nation, Click-a-Shift, and The Academy – each reflect the Enactus vision that a business can be profitable while improving the lives of real people around the world. Not only did our team perform exceptionally well in the competition, but several members of the team received job offers from sponsors while at the event. It fills me with pride to have the Coles College of Business associated with an organization like Enactus that encourages young people to use business acumen to make the world a better place.

  • Fifty-four Master of Accounting students recently returned from a weeklong experience in Washington, D.C. where they had the opportunity to study the close relationship between public policy and the accounting profession. Each year the MAcc program takes its students to DC for an intensive five-day course on accounting and public policy. The experience is one of the cornerstones of the MAcc degree program, and serves to introduce students to the wider implications of the concepts taught in the classroom. One of the chief highlights of the students’ trip to D.C. was their visit to Capitol Hill, where they met with Georgia Senator David Purdue.

May 2018

  • For the second year in a row, the Coles College of Business hosted a joint ceremony for our Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society inductees and our Outstanding Students Awards. The event saw some of the college’s most exceptional students gathered together to celebrate their academic achievements. I hope our faculty and staff will join me in congratulating the 50 undergraduate and graduate students whose stellar academic performance earned them a place in the prestigious Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society, as well as the 15 students honored by their program department heads as outstanding students. The awards ceremony also recognized the 16 students graduating this semester with minors from the exclusive Coles Scholars Program. With so many amazing students in one room, our keynote speaker, Mike Smith, a shareholder with the law firm, Baker, Donalson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, inspired them with his valuable advice to never stop learning new things.

  • Four students in in the Coles College of Business’s MSHMI program received scholarships this month from the Georgia chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Each year, GAHIMSS awards the David Cowan Scholarship to graduate students across the state working towards degrees in health information technology. Of the eight Georgia students each receiving the $3,000 scholarship this year, four of them are in the Coles MSHMI program. Dr. Sweta Sinha, founder and executive director of the MSHMI program, worked especially hard to position her students to receive the scholarship. The fact that half of this year’s recipients come from our program speaks volumes to Coles College’s and Kennesaw State University’s prominence in the growing field of healthcare informatics. GAHIMSS presented the scholarships last week at a gala attended by c-suite executives from organizations across the healthcare industry.

  • The staff of the Undergraduate Program Student Advising Center completed a Mental Health First Aid training course last month that will help them identify possible warning signs of suicide and other mental health issues among students. For Executive Director of Undergraduate Programs Angela Evans, the desire to train her staff in this area is a personal one. A friend of hers lost her son – a KSU student – to suicide last year. By training to know what to look for, and how to guide students to counseling or other resources, Angela hopes the UPAC can help prevent similar tragedies in the future. Behavioral hospital Willowbrooke at Tanner hosted the training session, which was offered free of charge as part of a federal grant program. It is wonderful to see our staff taking this much care to safeguard the lives of our students.

  • This fall Dr. Amy Henley, who has done an amazing job leading the Coles College MBA program for the past 18 months, will become the Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota. In her time leading the MBA program, she oversaw improvements in the program’s recruitment processes and student support services, helped increased enrollment in our MBA and WebMBA programs, and was instrumental in launching our new Sandy Springs MBA offering. In addition to these accomplishments, she has been an exemplary faculty member in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship. While I regret seeing her leave, I am positive she will do great things at UND!

April 2018

  • Congratulations to Professional Sales students Megan Colapinto and Stephanie Carvajalino for leading Kennesaw State University to a 9th place finish at the 20th annual National Collegiate Sales Competition. Seventy-one teams of undergraduate sales students competed at the NCSC, which is the world’s largest sales role-play competition for college students. Not only did the KSU team finish in the top ten, but Megan also earned 9th place among the 142 individual contestants. Hosted each year since 2003 by the Coles College Center for Professional Selling, the NCSC is an immensely important event that shines a spotlight on the sales profession and on Kennesaw State’s prominent role in promoting sales education. I want to personally thank the event’s founder, Dr. Terry Loe, as well as the CPS staff, all the volunteers and judges, and the corporate sponsors for helping make this event possible. It is a great opportunity for sales students from around the world to display mastery in their chosen career path.

  • The Kennesaw State University Enactus team took first place in their league this week at the Enactus United States Regional Competition in Chicago. This victory paves the way for the team to travel to the National Expo next month in Kansas City and compete for the top spot in the country. At this week’s Regional Competition, Enactus teams from universities around the country presented multimedia summaries of their entrepreneurial projects. Projects the Kennesaw State team presented include Click-a-Shift, an Uber-style app that pairs businesses with on-demand student labor, The Biz Nation, an online entrepreneurial education platform for students in Latin America, and The Academy, a program to teach special needs students to be entrepreneurs. Our Enactus team competed against six other universities in League 3 to win the competition, thanks to the strength of our students and their coach, Dennis Loubiere. I am sure I speak for all of the Coles College of Business when I wish them the best of luck next month in Kansas City!

  • For the second year in a row, CEO Magazine ranked the Coles College of Business’s Executive MBA program as the best EMBA program in Georgia and one of the top programs in the world, according to the 2018 Global Executive MBA rankings released in March. The magazine ranked KSU’s EMBA program No. 7 globally, two spots higher than its 9th place world ranking last year, and graded the program as Global Tier One. CEO Magazine bases its rankings on multiple factors including the quality of our faculty, international diversity, gender parity, and accreditation, just to name a few. The high marks that the EMBA program consistently earns are a testament to the hard work of people like Dr. Alison Keefe, Executive Director of the EMBA program, Allan Bishop, Director of Recruitment and Business Development, and all of the faculty and staff affiliated with the program. Their dedication allows Coles College to continue offering an excellent, career-expanding graduate experience to dozens of working professionals each year.
  • The Coles College of Business hosted teams from eight universities last week as they competed in the 13th annual Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Students played the role of network administrators detecting and fighting off outside cyberattacks, while also working to maintain their organization’s email and web servers and respond to everyday business requests. Held at KSU every year since 2006, the SECCDC is a great opportunity for students to develop real-world experience dealing with the kinds of challenges they could face in their professional lives. Our information security and assurance students held two training workshops for this event – one in fall and one in spring – and organized several rehearsals with the help of BBA-ISA alumni. I want to congratulate the University of Central Florida for their first place finish and wish them the best of luck at the national competition.

March 2018

  • Last week the Executive MBA program hosted its 24th annual Lessons in Leadership event. Featuring an exceptional panel of Atlanta-area business and government leaders, the event provided valuable insights into the skills needed to manage people successfully. The panelists were Ike Reighard, CEO of Must Ministries; Allison Moran, former CEO of RaceTrac; Grant Rivera, superintendent of Marietta City Schools; and Susan Nethero, managing director of Golden Seeds. While each panelist had a unique approach to leadership, it was great to see them all agree on many things, like on the importance of listening to the people you lead. In addition to learning about leadership, the attendees – many of them current and former EMBA students – could network with the who’s who local VIPs that made up the guest list. A highlight of the event was current EMBA student Michael Johnson, Business Development Coordinator with Colonial Pipeline Company, received the Outstanding Scholar award for exceptional work inside and outside the classroom. Finally, I want to thank Alison Keefe, Allan Bishop and all of the Coles College staff who helped organize and manage another successful Lessons in Leadership.

  • Rankings released in February by Brigham Young University place Kennesaw State University third in Georgia based on faculty publications in 12 top accounting journals. In total, 17 KSU faculty have contributed to articles published in top accounting journals since 1990, earning the University an overall ranking of 63rd in the world. And, thanks to our university’s large number of auditing-focused faculty – including three married couples all conducting auditing research – KSU ranks 17th in the world for research into auditing and 19th in the world for research into auditing information systems. KSU is also the highest ranked university in Georgia in both categories. Meanwhile, three School of Accountancy faculty are among the world’s top 1,000 accounting researchers. Dana Hermanson is ranked 22nd for research published since 1990. For research published just in the last six years, Divesh Sharma and Vineeta Sharma are ranked 130th and 351st respectively. The BYU rankings clearly demonstrate the Coles College of Business’s dedication to conducting important, business-relevant research.

  • We recently published a new profile on our website of our college’s namesake, Michael J. Coles. Michael’s inspirational life story is one of amazing success and significant hardship. His experiences illustrate the importance of persistence when it comes to pursuing ones dreams. After 20 years in the clothing industry, his desire to spend more time with his family led to a career change that saw him become the co-founder of the world’s largest chain of cookie restaurants – the Great American Cookie Company. Around that same time, a motorcycle accident nearly robbed him of the ability to walk. Not only did Michael overcome this challenge, he also went on to become a world record-holding bicyclist. With his ability to rise above obstacles and achieve great success, Michael embodies the ideals of the Coles College of Business. Read the full profile of Michael J. Coles.

  • I want to congratulate the Department of Economics, Finance, and Qualitative Analysis and the School of Accountancy on their exceptional internship participation numbers for Spring 2018. Both departments have internship numbers this semester higher than ever before. The School of Accountancy has 95 students working in internships or co-ops, while EFQA has 55. Considering that 305 students across all of Coles College are participating in internships this semester, more than one-third of them are either accounting or economics/finance majors. The top employer is the regional accounting firm Carr, Rigs & Ingram, which hired seven Coles College students. On the subject of internships, faculty should remind their students about the All-Majors Career Fair on March 21st from 12 to 4 pm in the Student Recreation and Activities Center. I owe a special thanks to Kathy Hallmark and the team in the Department of Career Planning and Development for their dedication for helping our students gain valuable real world experience through internships and co-ops.

February 2018

  • Coles College of Business faculty have published a prolific body of research on entrepreneurship, which has helped Kennesaw State University become a global authority on the subject. Thanks to a study printed in the latest issue of the Journal of Small Business Management, we now have the numbers to prove it. The authors ranked the top 100 universities in the world based on the impact of their entrepreneurship research, with Kennesaw State landing at the 37th spot. Researchers measured impact by looking at the number of citations per article published in leading academic journals from 2002 to 2013. Kennesaw State ranked higher than any other university in Georgia. In addition, retired entrepreneurship professor Dr. Joseph Astrachan made the list of the top 25 contributing authors. As the relatively new field of entrepreneurship research continues to mature, I am positive that Kennesaw State University and the Coles College of Business will remain on the leading edge.
  • Last week the Department of Information Systems hosted its Back to School Reception, where nearly 100 students learned about their potential futures with the Information Systems and the Information Systems and Assurance degree programs. The event was especially valuable to first- and second-year students who have not yet chosen a major. They had the opportunity to speak directly with IS faculty about the benefits of an IS or ISA degree. Dr. Angela Evans also attended the reception to talk about the resources available to students in the newly reorganized Undergraduate Programs Advising Center, while RaceTrac, the event’s sponsor, sent recruiters to discuss the company’s internship programs. Dr. Traci Carte and the whole IS Department should be proud of their work organizing such a successful event that reminded our students what a degree from the Coles College of Business can do for them.

  • Reflecting the Coles College of Business’s dedication to making quality education available to as many students as possible, College Choice ranked our nationally accredited online bachelor of business administration degree in marketing as 20th in the nation in affordability. This recognition speaks highly to the marketing faculty’s commitment to delivering an online marketing program that matches the rigor and prestige of our traditional offering, while providing greater flexibility and convenience. I also want to thank Justin Cochran for his excellent leadership of the online marketing BBA program, and Robert Swift at the Distance Learning Center for making it possible to deliver it to our students.

  • We are just a few weeks away from the March 16 deadline to make nominations for the 2018 Coles College of Business Staff Awards. I want to encourage everyone to think about the passionate, dedicated staff members you work with every day and to nominate those who deserve extra recognition. The five available categories are:

    • Innovation and impact
    • Service, Dedication and Commitment
    • Spirt of Coles
    • Teamwork and Leadership
    • Overall – Distinguished Staff

    Awardees will each receive a $1,000 cash prize, with the recipient of the “Overall – Distinguished Staff” award receiving $1,500. Nominating a staff member helps demonstrate your appreciation for all that they do to support the mission of the Coles College of Business.

January 2018

  • U.S. News and World Report has once again recognized Coles College’s WebMBA program as being one of the best in the country. Earlier this week they released their 2018 ranking of the Top 20 Online MBA Programs. Our Master of Business Administration program ranked 19th, placing Kennesaw State University higher than any other university in Georgia. While U.S. News and World Report bases its rankings on several factors, including admission selectivity, peer reputation, faculty credentials, and student services, the most heavily weighted is student engagement. Highly ranked programs like ours create online environments where students can interact easily with their instructors and classmates. This recognition by U.S. News and World Report is a testament to the dedication and hard work of Amy Henley and all of the talented professionals working on our MBA programs leadership team.
  • The 2016-2017 academic year was a stellar one for the Coles College of Business, and you can read all about it in the newly published Coles College Annual Report. Featuring a collection of student success stories, faculty and staff highlights, and a breakdown of some of the many awards and recognitions we received during the year, the annual report does a great job telling the Coles College story. Stop by the Dean’s Suite to pick up a copy today. You can also read a digital version on the Annual Report Website. Please join me in celebrating everything we accomplished last academic year!

  • Don’t miss your chance to help shape the Kennesaw State University Strategic Plan for 2018-2023 by attending one of the upcoming town hall style listening sessions in the Burruss Building. Coles College faculty Dr. Tim Blumentritt is coordinating the planning process and is hosting a series of listening sessions across campus over the next several weeks. The next session for the Coles audience is January 18th from 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm in BB 150. If you can’t make that one, there’s one the following week on January 23rd from 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm in BB 380. The goal of these sessions is to give faculty and staff the chance to learn more about the current direction of the strategic plan and to ask questions. KSU’s strategic plan establishes what the University’s goals and priorities are for the next several years. Attend one of the upcoming listening sessions to make sure you are part of the process.

  • I want to encourage you all to take advantage of an amazing in-house resource we have at Coles College in the Office of Events and Creative Communications. Their job is to support the marketing and communications needs of our departments, centers and programs. Whether you want to create promotional materials for one of your programs, revamp your department’s website, or share your success stories on social media or the college’s external newsletter, ECC’s team of creative professionals wants to help. One of their most valuable services is comprehensive event management. For your next event, ECC can book the venue, create and send out the invitations, assist with marketing, and develop signage and printed material. I recommend you to check out the ECC’s Project Request Form to find out how they can help you today.

December 2017

  • Cox Family Enterprise Center – Kennesaw State’s first-ever endowed center and one of the oldest family business resource centers in the world – celebrated its 30th birthday in style last month at a gala event held at Flourish Atlanta. The guest list included family business owners, advisors, academics, and several high profile supporters of the center like Valery Voyles, Chairman and CEO of Ed Voyles Automotive Group, and Tommy and Chantal Bagwell. Former Coles College Dean Dr. Tim Mescon was unable to attend, but recorded a video message recognizing CFEC’s achievement. Founded in 1987, CFEC is the premiere source for education, support, and training to help family businesses succeed. It is an honor to have such a successful and prestigious center within Coles College, and I wish CFEC another 30 years of continued success.
  • The Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants named the late Kathryn Epps as the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Educator Award, which recognizes an accounting teacher who has made a significant impact on the lives of his or her students. Kathryn served as director of the School of Accountancy from 2010 until her passing earlier this fall. She received the posthumous award in November at the GSCPA’s annual meeting. Kathryn’s husband, Bagwell College of Education faculty member Adrian Epps, attended the event and offered a moving tribute to Kathryn’s many achievements within the SOA. The GSCPA also put together a fantastic video honoring Kathryn’s life and legacy at Coles College, and has pledged to make a donation to the Kathryn Epps Memorial Fund.

  • Andy Green, the coordinator for Coles College’s Information Security and Assurance program, recently appeared twice on local news broadcasts in Atlanta speaking as an expert on cybersecurity. In November, WSB-TV reporter Richard Belcher asked Andy to comment on a leaked document revealing potential lax data security practices at MARTA. In October, Andy sat down with CBS 46 reporter Sally Sears to discuss businesses’ vulnerability to hackers in the wake of the historic Equifax data breach, which exposed personal information of more than 140 million people. Multiple media outlets reaching out to members of our faculty for comment and analysis speaks to the prowess that Coles College now enjoys thanks to the knowledge and expertise of our educators.

    Watch the WSB-TV Video Here

  • I hope when the new semester begins in January that you will encourage your students to register for the Department of Career Planning and Development’s Student Professional Development Conference, which will be held January 20th from 9:00 to 4:00 in Prillaman Hall. This valuable event will feature KSU faculty and staff – as well as potential employers – presenting on networking, interviewing, resume building, and a host of other topics that all students should know before graduating and entering the workforce. They keynote speaker is Dethra U. Giles, Chief Bridge Architect at ExecuPrep. Dethra is a Coles alumna, having earned her MBA in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development in 2003. While the cost to attend the conference is $10, which includes conference materials, lunch, and giveaways, the information students will receive to help them plan their futures is priceless.

November 2017

  • As we remember our dear friend Dr. Kathryn Epps, I hope you will consider donating to the memorial scholarship fund established by the School of Accountancy and the Epps family. The goal is to use the money raised to fund several initiatives benefitting SOA students and underrepresented minorities – two groups that Kathryn passionately fought for as SOA Director. By making a donation, you will help the SOA and the Epps family continue the work that Kathryn had only just begun. If you would like to donate, please visit the Dr. Kathryn Epps Memorial Fund Homepage. We also ask that you share the page with anyone you know who may want to contribute. Help us honor Kathryn’s memory while making accounting education accessible to more students.

  • Beginning in July 2018, the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship will officially become the Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality with Dr. Robin Cheramie serving as its director. Hoping to develop a new hospitality degree program that emphasizes the business side of the industry, the University recently decided to end the Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality degree program currently managed by the Leven School at University College. Instead, their goal is to develop a new bachelor of business administration program in hospitality at Coles. University College will continue offering CSH classes through 2021 to guarantee that current students in the program can complete their degrees.

    Michael Leven, CEO of the Georgia Aquarium, became affiliated with the Culinary and Hospitality program two years ago when he donated a record $5 million to support it. Michael is excited to begin his new relationship with Coles College, and I am excited to add hospitality to the growing list of degree programs offered by our college.

  • Dr. Adriane Randolph showed the 450 attendees of last month’s FutureXLive conference in Atlanta that the Coles College of Business sits at the leading edge of research into brain-computer interfaces. Adriane, Executive Director of the Coles College BrainLab, was a featured speaker at the conference on new and emerging technologies. Her presentation, “Telepaths Among Us: Advances in Brain-Computer Interfaces,” focused on technology that exists right now that allows people to control machines with their minds. Just a few weeks after FutureXLive, Adriane served as a guest speaker at TEDxCentennialParkWomen, an annual conference that shines a spotlight on remarkable women and their innovative ideas. She took the stage with Dr. Melody Moore Jackson, Director of Georgia Tech’s BrainLab, to discuss the experience of being a woman in the tech industry and the joys and heartbreaks of working to help terminally ill patients use brain-computer interfaces to regain some independence. I am constantly in awe of the remarkable work Adriane does in the BrainLab, and I am proud to have her representing our college at these high profile conferences.

  • Please join me in congratulating Gregory Lawrance, a new academic advisor in the Undergraduate Programs Advising Center, for the publication of his article “Engaging Foster Care and Homeless Students through Student Employment” in the National Student Employment Association Summer Journal. The article focuses on KSU’s commitment to helping some of our most disadvantaged students – homeless students and students in the foster care system – thrive in a university setting by offering them employment through the KSU CARE program. Gregory recently joined UPAC after having previously worked in the Office of Student Financial Aid. His desire to help all KSU students succeed makes him a great addition to UPAC and to the Coles College of Business.

October 2017

  • I am honored to recognize Coles advisory board member Doug Shore and executive in residence Harry Maziar as the two newest inductees into the Coles College of Business Hall of Fame. Doug and Harry have been great friends to Coles College and to Kennesaw State for many years. Formerly the president of Zep Manufacturing Company, Harry has offered his guidance to Coles College for two decades as the school’s first-ever executive in residence. Doug, who made a name for himself as the co-founder and CEO of business-to-business publishing company Shore-Varrone, Inc., is an ardent supporter of scholarships and entrepreneurship programs at Coles College. Last year, he and his wife named the college’s Robin & Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center.

    Please be sure to visit the Hall of Fame installation on the second floor of the Burruss Building adjacent to the Dean’s Suite to learn more about our esteemed inductees and the ways in which they have improved Coles College.

  • Next month, the Coles College of Business will host a roundtable discussion with Terri Bresenham, President and Chief Executive of Sustainable Healthcare Solutions, an India-based division of GE Healthcare. She will address the benefits and challenges of doing business in India. This event is part of Kennesaw State’s Year of India, a yearlong multidisciplinary study of Indian history and culture. Participating in the Year of India gives us at Coles the opportunity to increase campus awareness of one of the world’s largest and most influential economies. In addition to the roundtable, Coles is also working with WellStar College of Health and Human Services, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Office of Economic Development and Community Engagement to host two faculty from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. These visitors will spend a week in April 2018 on campus meeting with administration, faculty, staff, students, and community members to discuss the value of social entrepreneurship. We will have more information about this visit in the coming months.

  • After serving as acting director of the School of Accountancy since July, Dr. Richard Clune has now assumed the role of interim director. This change comes following the unfortunate passing of SOA director Kathryn Epps in September. Rich has done an incredible job leading the SOA through a difficult time these past few months, and I am positive that he will continue to be an excellent leader as Coles College prepares to conduct a nationwide search for the next SOA director. A former audit partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rich has taught and conducted research about internal auditing since joining Coles College in 2001, and serves as director of Coles College’s Internal Audit Center. Dr. Steven Smalt has agreed to assume Rich’s previous role as the SOA’s associate director.

  • They met with enthusiastic students who lined up to learn more about exciting opportunities like the Joel A. Katz Music & Entertainment Business program in London, the Coles Ireland & UK International Advertising program, the Business and Language program in Italy, and the new Business, Technology, and Food in India program. At Coles College we understand that international perspectives help our graduates succeed in today’s global economy. That is why we send more students abroad than almost any other college on campus, second only to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Last academic year alone, 250 students studied abroad on Coles College programs. I hope all Coles faculty encourage their students to participate in one of these transformative international experiences.