Week of April 7 – 12: Keeping you connected to COBA & CIT!

1. Banquet week

This past week was a busy one for banquets. First up was our annual Beta Gamma Sigma Banquet and Induction Ceremony. Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) is the international business honorary society sanctioned by our accrediting body, AACSB International. Membership is limited to juniors (the top 7 percent of the class), seniors (the top 10 percent), and MBA students (the top 20 percent). This year we inducted over 70 new members!

Faculty who serve as officers in the society include Leslie Fletcher, chapter president, Cindy Randall, vice president, and Jerry Wilson, sergeant-at-arms. (Thank you all – and Jim Randall, too – for another great job of organizing the banquet.)

At the banquet we invite parents, faculty who are BGS members, former faculty, and selected university dignitaries to join us in celebrating our students’ successes. In addition, we are privileged to induct one businessperson each year.

We selected Jenny Lind Gentry (‘81 BS in general business) as our honoree this year. Jenny is city president of Wachovia Bank in Savannah and delivered a wonderful speech … straight from the heart. Thanks, Jenny!

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At the end of the week we participated in the University’s annual Alumni Awards Banquet. Each college is allowed to honor one of its most distinguished alums. COBA selected Olivia Suggs Flanagan (’69 BBA in accounting) as its 2008 Alumna of the Year.

Olivia paved the way for women in industry, especially in the male dominated field of accounting back in the late 60s and early 70s. She initially went to work for Arthur Anderson and eventually retired as vice president of Flanagan and Waycaster Construction Company.

CIT selected Matthew Janofsky (’84 BBA in information systems) as its 2008 Alumnus of the Year. Matt started his career with Unisys and currently serves as vice president of application development for Gladiator Technology Services.

Congratulations to Jenny, Olivia, and Matt!

2. Welcome CIT Advisory Board chair, vice-chair

I’m pleased to welcome two new subscribers to the weekly Update this week: John Harlow, chair, and Dan Ricks, vice-chair, of the CIT Advisory Board. John is president of Bravepoint while Dan is owner and president of Bright Water Consulting, LLC.

Both traveled from Atlanta this week to meet with me and map out upcoming meeting dates for the CIT board. We also discussed ideas for keeping the board involved in the direction of the IT programs.

Congratulations to Zandra Brasington who was honored this week with a 2008 Staff Award of Excellence. Staff Excellence Awards are highly competitive across the entire university.

There are over 1,000 eligible staff. This year, 46 people were nominated, and only eight award winners were selected, so Zandra is in pretty select company.

We are very proud of the excellent work and tireless dedication that Zandra has contributed to COBA for 15 years. Way to go, Z!!!

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I also want to recognize Linda Carwell who was recently honored at the 2008 Essence Awards for her outstanding academic performance. Not only is Linda working full time in CIT but also she is taking classes toward her degree in business as an information systems major. (I won’t tell you her GPA, but if she were a full time student, she would be making the Dean’s List!)

Congratulations, Linda!! We are proud of you, too!

Greg Brock, director of the center for economic education, had a busy week. Early in the week, he drove to Jesup and worked with ninth grade economics teachers at Wayne High School. Later in the week, he was invited to make a presentation to the Bulloch County Board of Education.

The mission of the center is to serve as a resource for public school teachers who teach economics. Greg is certainly fulfilling that mission!

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Greg’s recent research paper, “What are the costs of being black?” continues to generate media interest. His work and that of his co-authors was recently featured in the Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Miami Herald, and on the Kojo Nnamdi NPR radio show in Washington, D.C. This is great visibility for COBA, and Georgia Southern. Way to go, Greg!

5. Savannah Business Report & Journal

We’ve run into some technical glitches this week with our online access to the book reviews and columns that we write and publish in the Savannah Business Report & Journal. Hopefully we will be back next week with two weeks worth of opinions and links.

6. Eagle Executive Society

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:

Billy Griffis
Matt Lane
Ed and Maria Sibbald
Don Howard
Dr. Cheryl Metrejean
James L. Moore
Misty Watson
Dr. Jerry Wilson
Robert Ware
Julia Kelly
Jody Stubbs

7. Feedback from one of the logistics recruiters

I thought you might like to read some excerpts from a gentleman who works for one of the companies that recruits logistics majors:

“After having completed a second round of interviews with prospective candidates, I would like to thank you for helping make things easy for me. It begins with the Logistics Job Fair. … as you know, (we are) a small transportation company with revenues of $60,000,000 per year. Our recruiting budget isn’t large. We do, nevertheless, have a need to hire 2 – 3 qualified transportation candidates each spring and fall to enable us to maintain our level of growth. The Logistics Job Fair enables me to concentrate solely on those students who have an interest in logistics. It saves me valuable time. I have participated in university wide job fairs at other schools in the past and have found myself exhausting my efforts talking with students from other disciplines who have no real interest in transportation.

I have been recruiting at GSU since May, 2005. The results have more than met my expectations. Since 2005, (we have) employed 11 GSU graduates. All are progressing well in their current positions. GSU continues to provide me with qualified candidates, students who are eager to begin their careers. I certainly appreciate your help in organizing a well run Logistics Job Fair and for helping direct students in my direction.”

This was from an email sent to Karl Manrodt, and I hope you will agree with me that we (COBA) are doing exactly what we should be doing for students majoring in logistics – preparing them academically and professionally so that they can be successful in their careers.

Last weekend the university conducted another Open House for prospective students and their parents. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the COBA and CIT faculty and staff who gave up part of their weekend to serve as hosts, advisors, and tour guides for our guests. Kudos to:

Cheryl Metrejean
Glen Riecken
John Brown
Abby Lynes
Hyo-Joo Han
Kim Robinson
Mallorie Williams
Kera Bell
Debopam Acharya
Adrian Gardiner
Art Gowan
Luke Odom (CIT student)
Jennifer Wilson (CIT student)
Aaron Ward (CIT student)

Thank you all!

A big “thank you” to Don Berecz for speaking to students in Susan Roach’s introduction to business classes. According to Susan, (Don) …“covered the basics (recruiting for ACCTG), while also giving us an inside look at the glitz and glamour of working for the FBI. Excellent job of recruiting both accounting and forensics. Highly recommended!”

Thanks for the feedback, Susan, and thank you, Don, for pitching in.

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Here’s a contributed story from one of our faculty about “guest speakers,” but in a slightly different vein:

“Leslie Fletcher and Harry Wright were invited to join panel sessions at the Southeast Regional American Accounting Association this past weekend. Leslie joined Mary Stone on a panel discussion of international accounting in the curriculum. Mary Stone is a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council and the AICPA Accounting Standards Executive Committee. Our School of Accountancy’s required international accounting course was noted as unique and advanced among universities

Harry joined Lori Snodgrass, a partner in the Birmingham office of Deloitte & Touche, to talk about the “disconnect” between practitioners and academics over what accounting students should learn.

The packed audiences stayed beyond the appointed 1.5 hour session times to talk with Leslie and Harry!

Good work, Leslie and Harry!

10. Welcome new subscribers

• Michael Curry, Sr., (’90 BBA in finance), who is assistant basketball coach for the Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills, MI.
• Michelle (Huggins) Koneman (’92 BBA in marketing), who is a business education teacher at Murray County High School in Chatsworth.
• Samantha (Grovenstein) Lee (’05 BBA in accounting and information systems), who is a software trainer and consultant with CCH Tax and Accounting in Torrence, CA.

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