Week of April 28 – May 3: Keeping you connected to COBA & CIT!

1. Did you miss your weekly dose of the Update last week??!!

Last week I took some vacation time to go to Paducah, KY for the 24th annual quilt show with Barbara. As a result, I forgot to mention in the previous week’s Update that there would be a one-week hiatus in the weekly newsletter. Sorry for the break in action.

I’m back – as is the Dean’s Update – and I will try to catch us up on two weeks worth of news.

FYI: Barbara’s quilt didn’t win anything, but she was excited to be in the show. She also had another of her quilts selected for inclusion in a 2009 calendar featuring a quilt for each week of the year. At the show, they had a “signing event” where those who bought the calendar could have it autographed by the different quilt makers. She got quite a rush over this!

In his latest column titled “Overburdened FDA accused of biting off more than it can chew,” Michael Reksulak writes:

“According to two articles in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the FDA is clearly overwhelmed with the prospect of not only being tasked to regulate ‘$1 trillion worth of consumer products,’ but also having to do so while the share of imported products is rising.”

Is it any wonder that it seems to take forever for the FDA to approve a new drug or medical device? On one hand they must be detailed enough to ensure safety; on the other hand, the longer they take to approve a (safe) drug or device, the more lives may be at risk. Not an easy dilemma to solve.

The government is considering expanding the FDA’s budget, but as Michael points out this may not be the easy answer. Why? Click on the following link to find out:

http://savannahnow.com/node/486793

Recently I reported on a highly interactive set of role plays that some of our accounting students participated in as part of Project Adrian. The Savannah Morning News picked up the story and ran an excellent story about it. Here is how it starts:

“Students in former FBI agent Don Berecz's white-collar crime class at Georgia Southern University recently had a real hands-on opportunity to learn how a criminal investigation operates when they took part in the Adrian Project, an IRS education program that reaches out to colleges and universities across the nation.

From combing accounting records, to searching through trash, to handing down a grand jury indictment, this class learned by experience just what it takes to catch a crook.

‘We are an ideal location for the IRS to conduct this program,’ said Berecz, director of Georgia Southern University's Center for Forensic Studies in Accounting and Business. ‘Georgia Southern University is one of only a few colleges and universities nationwide offering a series of courses leading to a certificate, diploma, minor, or a major degree in forensic accounting. The IRS was pleased with the quality of our students and how informed they already are about tracking financial crimes.’

What great press!! Read the whole article at the link below:

http://savannahnow.com/node/485973

4. Research roundup

Susan Williams and Cheryl Aasheim have some good news to celebrate. Their article titled “Knowledge and skill requirements for IT graduates: A survey of IT workers and managers” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Computer Information Systems. In case you are interested, Susan and Cheryl discovered that honesty/integrity was ranked number one, followed by communication and analytical skills tied for second. Good work!

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Another dynamic duo – Dena Hale and Linda Mullen – also have good news to share. Their article “Show me the money! The students speak up: an update” is in press at the Western Journal of Human Resource Management. Way to go, team!

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Congratulations to Dave Shepherd and Jackie Eastman!! Their article titled “Suggestions for successfully establishing a university selling center” has been accepted for publication in Contemporary Issues in Education Research. As you know by reading this Update, we are in the process of renovating some physical space in the building to create a sales center, so their article is quite timely.

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In the last Update, I mentioned that Dave had published an article in the Journal of College Teaching & Learning. He reminded me that I failed to mention his co-author – Kathy Shepherd. Way to go, Kathy! (And yes, Kathy is Dave’s better half!)

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Michael Reksulak is not only an accomplished columnist but he also is a prolific researcher. His latest co-authored manuscript titled “Your place in space: A classroom experiment on spatial location theory” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Economic Education. Well done, Michael!!

Each week we’ll randomly select and highlight 10 (or so) members of the new Eagle Executive Society in Dean’s Update. Will your name appear? DON’T BE LEFT OUT!! Join today. Go to the end of this Update and click on the indicated link to sign up online.

This week’s members are:

Russell and Alice Priddy

Phil Moore

Dr. John Leaptrott

Billy Hickman

Edwin Hill

Michelle Dickerson

Al Burke

William Kirby

William McLain

Russell Williams, Jr.

The National Football League draft came and went last week, but no pro team selected Georgia Southern’s quarterback, Jayson Foster. Initially we were all sad, but it turns out that several teams were interested in Jayson and subsequently the Miami Dolphins quickly signed him as a free agent. Click on the following link for more details:

http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/11370/

This coming fall we intend to launch our new masters of science degree in applied economics online! If you have thought about pursuing such a degree, but couldn’t afford to stop working to go back to school, now you have a convenient option.

Faculty in our School of Economic Development have created a 30-hour program of study with three different concentrations (regional economic development, industrial organization & regulation, and financial economics). If you interested in learning more, please read the following summary (prepared by Godfrey Gibbison) or contact interim Director John Brown (jbrown@georgiasouthern.edu ).

How serious are you about career advancement? Our Online Master of Science in Applied Economics (MSAE) is specifically designed to provide you with the quantitative and analytical skills you need to help you excel professionally. You will be an excellent asset to any company, with the ability to carry out quantitative market research and regulatory analysis. Choosing our economic development concentration will give you the skills you need to assist companies, local and state governments and economic development authorities in community and regional economic development planning.

As a graduate of our program you will be able to compete for jobs in financial institutions, federal and state regulatory agencies, industries in need of employees with rigorous market research skills, electricity, oil and natural gas companies subject to state and federal regulation, and government enterprises engaged in economic development.

Advancing your career does not have to interrupt your professional or family life! We offer the opportunity for professionals to continue their education while maintaining full-time employment anywhere in the United States, Canada, and U.S. Military Installations. Our program offers schedule and location flexibility (virtually anywhere, anytime), a two-year curriculum, courses designed and taught by highly qualified, extremely creative Georgia Southern faculty. Winning awards for teaching excellence, student engagement and scholarly creativity is routine among our faculty at Georgia southern.

How do you know our degree delivers the quality you expect? Our program is fully accredited by the AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Georgia Southern University also enjoys accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which in known for its tough accreditation standards. One more thing, no on-campus visit required!

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Speaking of economics, I’d like to spotlight the efforts of Greg Brock, director of the Center for Economic Education. Recently, Greg led three groups of 6th graders at William James Middle School in a workshop with activities on fractional reserve banking, market structures and production possibilities graphs. Greg gave each student an economics comic book from the New York Federal Reserve and navigated them to the COBA web page. Nice work, Greg.

Please congratulate computer science major Jason Veatch who participated in this year’s Honors Research Symposium. Jason’s research was titled "Using software to teach math through culture."

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I’d also like to thank Dr. Kera Bell-Watkins who served as his mentor!

The policies and procedures used by Mike McDonald and his staff in the COBA Graduate Studies Office to recruit graduate students were spotlighted as a “best practice” on this campus by Provost Linda Bleicken.

As a result, Angela Leverett, who developed our recruitment plan, was invited to make a presentation at the most recent meeting of the graduate program directors.

According to Mike, “… (after Angela left the meeting,) the other directors continued the discussion about recruiting students and several of them commented about what a good job she did with the presentation.”

Good work, Angela!

§ Sarah (Stokes) Meyer (’06 MBA), who is finance director for Coastal Medical Access Project in Brunswick.

§ Michael Thurman (’92 BS in engineering technology) and Sherri (Pearson) Thurman (’91 BBA in management). Sherri is a teacher in the Cobb County school system.

§ Robert Carden (’95 BBA in finance and ’97 MBA), who is accounting manager for Bostwick Laboratories in Savannah.

Eagle Executive Society

If you haven’t done so already, please consider joining the Eagle Executive Society (EExS) as a charter member for $50 a year. Your contribution will support annual funding needs that are not being covered by state dollars.

Click on the following link and to sign up online! Thank you.

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/eagleexecutive/eexsmembership.htm