Week of May 5 – 10: Keeping you connected to COBA & CIT!

1. Graduation

On Saturday we held our annual spring commencement exercises at Paulson Stadium where degrees were conferred on 2,393 students. Of that number about 2,000 chose to attend graduation and walk across the stage to receive their degree. Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson gave a terrific commencement address.

Rain threatened, but we were able to finish the ceremony – complete with Challenger the Eagle flying over the students as we sang the last verse of the GSU Alma Mater. What a great and unique event!

I found this bit of numerology to be interesting: We had graduates from 26 states in the U.S. and from 32 different countries!

More numbers representing the number of graduates:

MBA, 67

MAcc, 27

BS in computer science, 13

BS in information technology, 37 (including our first WebBSIT graduate!)

BBA, 439

After graduation we held a reception for CIT and COBA graduates and their families in the atrium of the CIT building where we served Subway sandwiches, drinks, and cake. CIT and COBA faculty mingled with the crowd, meeting parents for the first time and wishing our newest alumni the best in their careers. I heard many compliments from students and parents about Georgia Southern, our faculty, and our staff.

Speaking of staff, I would like to thank all who contributed their time and effort to makes this day a special one. Thank you!

Hearty congratulations to “Dr.” Dena Hale who defended her dissertation and has now completed all requirements for her doctorate degree!! Good work, Dena!

On Friday, May 16, we will be holding our 14th Annual COBA Golf Tournament at Forest Heights Country Club.

Lisa Williams and Jan Grimes have worked overtime to get ready for this special event. Please support their efforts and COBA by volunteering your time (I know they still need some help), sponsoring a hole or a door prize, or making a contribution to COBA to help us defray some of the costs.

For more information, please contact Lisa at lwms@georgiasouthern.edu Thank you!!

4. Research roundup

Congratulations to Jackie Eastman! Her article titled “The impact of cognitive age on seniors' lifestyles” has been accepted for publication in the Marketing Management Journal.

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Timur Mirzoev received good news from the Campus Life Enrichment Committee that his proposal titled “3D Motion Analysis Applications in the Sports Sciences” has been funded. With this grant, Dr. Alfred Finch from Indiana State University will make a presentation at Georgia Southern in October. Well done, Timur!

In case you have missed our links to the columns and book reviews that we publish each week in the Savannah Business Report & Journal, we have been working on a new linking approach that will place the columns permanently on COBA’s web site. This should eliminate some of the problems we experienced with incorrect URLs and limited access to the Business Report & Journal. In addition we hope by placing the columns on our web site that you might be curious enough to poke around other links on our site.

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Mark Yanochik recently reviewed “Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization” by Paul Cantor and offers this summary of the book:

“…does mass media reflect popular culture? Or does mass media create popular culture? Marketing and other business professional are keenly interested in this relationship. Paul Cantor's book ‘Gilligan Unbound’ is an extension of this debate. Cantor begins with the assumption that mass media (in the form of television) mirrors the prevailing cultural mores.”

In particular, the author closely examines four prominent television shows that we likely have all seen: Gilligan’s Island, Star Trek, The Simpsons, and The X-Files. Learn how these shows are related and how they reflect the evolution in American pop culture by reading Mark’s complete review at the link below:

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/insights.htm

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John Brown contributed “10 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about Globalization” as the monthly Economic Insights column. John has provided an excellent set of questions and easy-to-understand answers for many commonsense queries such as:

“What are the benefits of globalization?”

“Why are economists so enthusiastic about globalization?

“Is there anything that can be done about the job losses?”

“How is Savannah and Southeast Georgia affected by globalization?

Find out by clicking on the link below:

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/insights.htm

Bill Wells and Tony Barilla volunteered their services as guest speakers in Susan Roach’s introduction to business class two weeks ago. Bill discussed the functions of the Federal Reserve (and did a little recruiting for finance majors), while Tony discussed the strength and stability of the U.S dollar as it relates to foreign currency. Thank you both!

“Donna Fisher received a letter of commendation from Jeremy Hinton of the CORE credit union. Taking service learning to a new level, she and her students conducted a location analysis for the credit union. In the letter he wrote, ‘Given that we are a not-for-profit organization, the success (or failure) of any new ventures we undertake can have a significant impact on our current and future service levels. We understand how important it is to make informed decisions....’

He continued, ‘Dr. Fisher integrated different parts of this study into her students' course work. On February 7, 2008, three members of our management team attended a class presentation where about 15 students gave summaries of the 8 counties the credit union serves.’”

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Excellent, Donna! (And thank you, John, for sharing this news with us.)

No, not the wine!

Project RIPPLE is a water education program aimed at 4th graders to teach them the basics of water science and ecology. (RIPPLE is an acronym for Riparian Investigation Promoting Place-based Limnology Education.)

Director Jeremy Hill of our Coastal Rivers Water Policy Center helped organize and deliver the RIPPLE Water Festival in Screven County on May 1. The teachers and students were enthusiastic and thrilled with the event. Here is a compliment we received from one of the teachers:

“Just wanted to let you know that we had a great time today. Please tell Jeremy they did a great job. I have never been to an activity that was so well planned and organized. That made everything just go so smoothly! This was well worth our time.”

Good job, Jeremy!!

Here is the latest roster of charter member of EExS, COBA’s new membership society to provide a margin of support for initiatives that go unfunded by state appropriations.

Myrna Hood

Peter Hayes

Johnny Carter

Dale Braddy

Kimberly Zell

Charles Rogers

Brent von Alvorden Kittel

Bobby Melton

Jimmy Marshall, Jr.

Melinda Bergbom

See the box at the bottom of the Update for details on how to join EExS.

§ Donnie Robinson (‘05 BBA in finance), who is financial planning specialist with Atlanta Financial Associates in Atlanta.

§ Jarell Jones (’70 BBA in accounting), who is an attorney in practice for himself as Wm Jarell Jones, P.C., in St. Simons Island.

§ Latasha Roberts (’98 BBA in accounting), who is an accountant with Skinner, Barndollar and Lane, P.C., in Savannah.

§ Skip Swain (’03 BBA in finance), who is a vice president and a commercial lender with The Coastal Bank of Georgia in St. Mary’s.

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