Taking Flight – March 2015 Edition
Message from the Dean
In my role as dean, I visit a number of other universities. And, every time I do, I appreciate Georgia Southern more. The beauty of our campus, the energy of our students, the enthusiasm of our alumni, and the commitment and collegiality of our faculty and staff demonstrate that, indeed, we are all fortunate and blessed to be Eagles.
I was reminded of this again just recently when our faculty met for its annual assessment day meeting. This event is organized by one of our standing committees and is meant to address the outcomes of our instructional programs. It’s a meeting in which the faculty members review data and ask themselves fundamental questions. Those questions include things like what skills and abilities should mark a College of Business graduate? What is the appropriate mix of technical, behavioral, and experiential content in our curriculum? And, how should we be adapting our own programs and processes to ensure we are producing the best possible graduates for the marketplace? It’s important, if often tedious, work that needs to be done and reviewed periodically. And, for our College, the time for that review was earlier this month. I was able to kick off the meeting by offering some words of encouragement to those who were able to participate.
Yet, I came away encouraged as well. I was reminded of the dedication of our faculty members and of their professionalism and commitment to our students. I was reminded of the opportunity we have to make a meaningful difference, to impact the economic future of our students and vitality of our region. Most of all, though, I was reminded again of what a special place Georgia Southern really is.
Alumni Spotlight: Mandy See
Amanda “Mandy” Green See (MGNT, 1997; MBA, 2001) began her career in the Georgia Southern Welcome Center the same day she started classes as a freshman. While there, she progressed from student worker to part-time administrator and, finally, Center coordinator—all while attending classes. Mandy says that her business courses allowed her to continuously grow in her field of study and, ultimately, led to a position in the human resources (HR) department at Briggs & Stratton.
While at Georgia Southern, Mandy joined the student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She held several offices within the organization, including serving two years as its president. Mandy credits Mrs. Bobbie Williams, who at that time taught human resource management courses, for encouraging her to go into HR. She adds that Mrs. Williams’s recommendation helped her obtain her first HR position at Briggs & Stratton in 1998.
Mandy began at Briggs & Stratton as an intern before moving into a full-time position as employee relations coordinator. She then became assistant HR manager, and, for the last three years, has served as HR manager handling all facets of HR from benefits and recruitment to training and planning of employee events. Her job covers everything an employee needs from hire to retire, but Mandy’s favorite part is helping people to live better lives. Mandy states, “As active members in a workforce, most of us spend a lot more time together than we do at home. We are family, and, anytime we can make this part of our lives work better [while having] happy/engaged employees, that is what makes me satisfied at work.”
Although she often visits the Georgia Southern campus through work projects, Mandy did not have much of a personal connection. Recently, she began looking at ways to reconnect with Georgia Southern and found the alumni group, Southern Women. She quickly became involved with outreach and planning meetings. Mandy says that she enjoys being part of the group and hopes to continue to grow as a member and to give back to future alumni including her daughter who already wants to be a Georgia Southern Eagle.
After accomplishing her goals of getting married, obtaining a college degree, finding a great job with a great company, earning her MBA, having a child, and becoming HR manager, Mandy admits she is not sure what is next. Her job is ever changing with new projects and challenges; however, Briggs & Stratton continues to offer upward opportunities. Mandy admits she could always work on her PhD, but, presently, she enjoys her current position and her family. She also loves spending time with her four dogs, reading, and traveling to new places.
2nd Annual 3DS, Winner Moves on to FastPitch Savannah
The Georgia Southern University Business Innovation Group (BIG) held its 2nd Annual 3 Day Startup (3DS) on February 20-22.
3DS, a world-renowned program, creates a living entrepreneurship laboratory bringing together individuals from various backgrounds and provides students with the tools needed to start successful companies.
This intensive weekend event was filled with activity including workshops, business idea generation, customer engagement sessions, and pitching ideas to judges. Winners from 3DS moved on to the FastPitch competition in Savannah on March 5. Suzanne Hallman, Georgia Southern business advisor, stated, “3DS was a great success again this year. I couldn’t be more proud to be an Eagle. We had some of …[the] finest [Georgia Southern] students who gave up their entire weekend to work on startups [regardless of] whether …[the startup] was their idea.”
Six teams pitched ideas in this year’s 3DS. They were
The Move – an anonymous location-based event app;
Book Biz – a college student book swap app;
Spark – a nonprofit event planning and promotions business;
Design a Date – an app to help make date night planning frustration-free;
Wherebuy – a location-based retail inventory app; and
Advinup – a reward-based viral video competition, unifying the world through competition.
The team that moved on to the FastPitch competition was Advinup. The team members were Tyler Brown and Brook Tesema, co-founders, John Nwosu, Phillip Johnson, Chris Jones, Stephen Johnson, and Nnamdi Obodoechine.
Advinup competed in the student entrepreneur category against students from SCAD and Armstrong State in the FastPitch Savannah competition. College of Business student and Advinup team member John Nwosu pitched the viral video competition concept, explaining likes become currency and users can compete in different categories to win iPhones, travel opportunities, and more. “Tyler Brown and the entire Advinup team are a group of students who are humble, hungry, and smart. They are exceptionally talented and tenacious in their pursuit of making the most of this start-up experience,” states Steve Stewart, PhD, professor of entrepreneurship, faculty advisor to Advinup, and Advinup Advisory Board member. “They’ve surrounded themselves with excellent people, availed themselves of the resources of the entrepreneurship program, the Business Innovation Group, and 3DS, and have learned from every experience. They exemplify what the entrepreneurship and innovation program and the College of Business at Georgia Southern are about—excellent students engaged in an outstanding student experience in the context of a world-class university environment.”
Graduate Students Present at the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference in February
To cap off their time at Georgia Southern, two recent graduates from the inaugural class of our WebMAcc program have had a piece of their academic work published in the proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute conference in Savannah. Erin Doyle and DaOsha Pack were encouraged by Dr. Geoff Dick, professor of information systems, who was the instructor for their last class, Enterprise Information Systems, to work up their term papers and submit them to the conference.
Erin’s paper, “Minimizing the Risks of ERP Implementation Challenges: A Case Study,” is very special to her as her parent organization, Ingersoll Rand, is currently undergoing a large-scale ERP implementation that will affect the company in the near future. She is currently a corporate accountant for Club Car in Evans and the owner of Piercy Accounting Services, a small tax business in North Augusta, SC, which has been in operation for 15 years. Her career goal is to continue to rise through the ranks of Ingersoll Rand until one day becoming a controller within one of the strategic business units.
DaOsha came to the program with an MEd with a concentration in higher education administration from Troy University. The title of her paper was “ERP Training in Consolidation.” She chose the topic due to her interest in training and the class readings and is looking for more case studies about this particular topic. She chose to pursue this opportunity because her goal is to obtain a PhD in accounting. The experience of publishing and presenting was invaluable and will certainly enhance her applications for PhD programs. She attended the PhD Project Conference in Chicago, IL, last November and is hoping to begin a PhD program in Fall 2016 in Georgia or South Carolina.
“These two should be delighted with their achievements,” Dr. Dick said. “This is a great credit to them, and they have ably demonstrated that class work has benefits to a much wider community. Well done, ladies, you have made Georgia Southern and your program proud!”
GSLA Roundtable Recap
On February 24, the Georgia Southern Logistics Association (GSLA) hosted the Spring 2015 Logistics Roundtable, an event designed to allow students an opportunity to explore logistics-related careers. This semester’s event was the largest to date with 252 students and 79 professionals from 32 different firms attending. The professionals, including a number of Georgia Southern alumni and representing major retailers, product distributors, motor carriers, and third-party logistics (3PL) firms, provided students an opportunity to gain valuable insights into logistics career opportunities through both interactive panel and open networking sessions. Planning has already begun for the Fall 2015 Logistics Roundtable, scheduled for September 29.
Eagle Executive Magazine
The Spring 2015 issue of the Eagle Executive magazine was mailed in mid-March. To view it online, go to http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/eagle-executive/3/.
Business at the Ballpark
The 2nd Annual Business at the Ballpark will be on Saturday, April 11 when the Eagles host the Mavericks of UT Arlington at J. I. Clements Stadium at 2:00 p.m. Join your fellow Eagle Executives for a fun day of baseball and College of Business giveaways.
Tickets for Business at the Ballpark may be purchased by calling 1.800.GSU.Wins. College of Business alumni may purchase tickets for $5 using the promo code “College of Business.” All Georgia Southern College of Business students, faculty, and staff will receive free admission with their Georgia Southern IDs.
For more information about the activities taking place during the Business at the Ballpark event, please contact Debbie Hilton in the College of Business by calling 912.478.5050 or email (dhilton@georgiasouthern.edu).
Linda Mullen Brings Seasoned Salesperson to Speak to Marketing Classes
On Thursday, February 26, Linda Mullen invited a “mystery guest” to her marketing classes. The man of mystery entered the classroom hidden behind his briefcase and made his way to a small bookcase set up on a table within the classroom, where he remained hidden for the first 15 minutes of class.
To start the class, the hidden guest asked the students to introduce themselves using a number (in sequential order), their hometown, and their major. He started with, “#1, Marietta, Physical Education.” Once the class had gone through this exercise, he explained at this point the students were only a number. He then told the class there were a couple of students he’d like to meet based upon their number, hometown, and major. He asked three students to come up to the bookcase he was standing behind and introduce themselves to him. Now, those students were more than just a number. He did all of this to show the students they must differentiate themselves. Mr. Clark “Bullet” Bentley stepped from behind the bookcase and introduced himself as the vice president of sales for Marietta Drapery & Window Coverings.
Marietta Drapery & Window Coverings is a window and bed coverings supplier for multi-family housing, hospitality, commercial, education, and healthcare markets. Since 1946, the family-owned and operated company has fabricated ready-made or custom-made textile-based goods to the U.S. market. The company does business based upon the principle that the best business is repeat business, and, so, relationship building is key to customer service. Its customers include Sears and Marriott International, among other major hotel chains and apartment communities.
During the remainder of Mr. Bentley’s presentation, he answered questions submitted by the students in the class ranging from when he started in sales (4 years old selling rocks) to what were his causes of success (hearing “No!” and finding the yes) to who was the most influential in his life (his parents and Mr. Bob Chambers). He also explained that networking, being able to connect with people, and building and maintaining relationships through the years are key factors to success. Mr. Bentley told the class the coolest thing he has done was travel to all 50 states and meet people he was able to connect with in just about all of them. He advised the students to pick up the book The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard and also suggested reading any of Harvey Mackay’s books. It was apparent that Mr. Bentley has had a fun and successful career in sales. He said, “Like what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Interviews & Interrogations at Southeast Bulloch High School
Students taking forensic interviews and interrogation in the fraud examination minor conduct weekly “field” interviews during each semester. On March 5-6, the field interviews took place at Southeast Bulloch High School (SEB) in Brooklet, where mock pre-employment interviews were conducted. Thirty-five Georgia Southern students arrived at SEB and conducted interviews of about 70 high school seniors.
The SEB students’ teachers, Ellen Brinson and Karla Anderson, assisted their students in completing job applications, résumés, and cover letters. Elaine Scripture and Judy Mincey closed down the school’s media center, where as many as 12 interviews were conducted simultaneously in “offices” between the bookshelves.
In addition to our students making hiring decisions, they provided written comments and feedback in the evaluation forms for each job-seeking student. The high school teachers then met with each student to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
It was a two-way street–most of the high school students had their “first” job interview experience and gained confidence, while most of our students had their “first” human resources interview and learned through the experience how to be better job seekers.
Last updated: 8/10/2021
