Taking Flight – February 2016 Edition

Message from the Dean

I recently traveled to a conference of business school deans. These conferences occur two or three times a year and attract deans from across the country and around the world. They are really quite interesting and beneficial, and they offer a great opportunity to exchange ideas, catch up on the latest trends and innovations, discuss various challenges, and learn from one another. But, another, somewhat more subtle, benefit to attending these conferences exists. Specifically, I always come back thankful to be at Georgia Southern and excited about the future.

We really are fortunate to be a part of this great university and part of a college that is on the move. Thanks to our advisory boards, our development staff and our many friends across the region, our alumni are more engaged than ever, and our network is growing steadily. Make sure you get out to one of our upcoming events. Thanks to our faculty and staff, our programs are growing, along with the number and range of opportunities we are able to offer our students. Be on the lookout for news about distinguished speakers, about new industry partnerships, and about some of our upcoming programs. Thanks to the folks at the Business Innovation Group, our footprint is growing in the areas of entrepreneurship, small business management and economic development. I am very excited about the future of our City Campus and the good things that are happening there.

As I learned at my conference, the more you see of the world around us, the better things look here at Georgia Southern. Our faculty are talented and strong, our staff are hardworking and dedicated, our students are better than they have ever been, and our momentum is building towards the future. Thanks to everyone who has helped to get us this far. Now, let’s all climb on the train because it is leaving the station.

Alumni Spotlight – Bryant Hosch

Bryant Hosch (ACCT, ’06; MAcc, ’07) graduated magna cum laude from Georgia Southern University. While at Georgia Southern, he was involved in various organizations including SOAR, Beta Alpha Psi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Golden Key and Gamma Beta Phi. Bryant joined Ernst & Young, LLP, in July 2007 and is currently a manager in Ernst & Young’s assurance practice, where he services both public SEC filers and private companies. Bryant is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who enjoys spending time with family, friends and on the golf course.

Online Programs Recognized in U.S. News & World Report

In rankings released for the best online programs among colleges and universities across the country, U.S. News & World Report has again ranked the Georgia Southern University College of Business online programs among the best for 2016.

Two online College of Business programs, the online Master of Business Administration (MBA) program and online graduate business programs (non-MBA), were ranked in the top 50.

news.georgiasouthern.edu/magazine/2016/01/21/how-we-stack-up/

MBAA Goes Fowl

On Friday, January 22, 2016, the MBA Association (MBAA) visited Claxton Poultry, Claxton, Georgia, for a tour of the facility and to gain a better understanding of agribusiness. The world’s growing population leads to a greater demand in food supply markets, and businesses need to be able to adapt to safely meet those demands. After arriving at the plant, the MBAA students were given lab coats and shown around the processing plant. While at Claxton Poultry, the students in attendance learned that more than five gallons of clean and chlorinated water go into the cleanliness of each chicken. Conveyor belts and machines lead to a higher efficiency and standardized quality for the products.

After a tour of the plant, the MBAA members met with Jerry Lane, CEO of Claxton Poultry. His years of experience in the industry gave further insights into Claxton Poultry’s methods of safely adapting to government regulations and consumer demand. The meeting resolved any concerns about steroid and antibiotic use in the chickens as well as explaining the logistics of processing thousands of chickens in a single day. The plant not only services grocery stores but also sends fast-food chains chicken products. For some of the company’s restaurant customers, the chicken is seasoned directly at the plant before being sent to your favorite chicken sandwich restaurant. Overall, the experience allowed for a restored confidence in the poultry-processing industry and the good companies that seek to provide the best product to their customers.

Student Appreciation

On Wednesday, January 27, 2016, the College of Business hosted Student Appreciation refreshments in Coca-Cola Plaza from 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Within the first month of each new semester, the College serves its students cookies, brownies and soft drinks to show business students that they are appreciated. Often, students question the reasons behind the free refreshments. When told the purpose is to celebrate business students, their faces light up with big smiles and an even bigger thank you.

Marketing Class Service-Learning Project at ReStore

The Habitat for Humanity Statesboro ReStore, also known as Spike’s Restore, is receiving help from Georgia Southern University College of Business students. The 80 students enrolled in MKTG 3135 (Principles of Retailing) will work collaboratively in small teams throughout the spring semester to help ReStore design and create an effective retail store layout with the purpose of attracting more customers, encouraging more visits, and generating more sales, which will help Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County build more affordable homes for those in need. The ReStore’s current site is cramped with all the “treasures” coming through its donation center, making it extremely difficult for (1) its customers to browse and examine the goods while shopping there, and (2) the ReStore manager and employees to assist their customers. In addition, the ReStore is in the process of moving to a new site where a new, reasonable and effective store layout is very much needed.

The drive behind the project is twofold. First, a service-learning project like this allows Georgia Southern students to understand the relevance of what they learn in classroom and how they can use such knowledge to leave positive impacts on the community by solving real-world problems. Secondly, a project involving both Georgia Southern students and a partner like ReStore fosters and nurtures a mutually-beneficial relationship between Georgia Southern University and the surrounding community.

Starting on February 9, students will be visiting ReStore’s current and new sites, working with Ms. Linda Christy, director of Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County, and Ms. Arliesha, manager of ReStore, to measure the floor space of the new site, as well as the shapes and dimensions of all shelving units, as part of the layout redesign project. Working in groups of three or four, student teams will create and propose competing layout designs through drawings and dioramas made for the new ReStore to be presented to ReStore at the end of the spring semester.

ReStore is a nonprofit home improvement store and donation center serving Statesboro and Bulloch County for several years. Currently, the ReStore is located at 20 East Cherry Street in Statesboro. The organization’s focus is “giving people a hand up, not a hand-out.” With the objective to serve the community, the ReStore’s current site functions as both store front for its customers while also providing storage in the rear.

Logistics & Supply Chain Management Receives Scholarship

The Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management recently received an Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) scholarship of $15,000. Jerry Burke, Ph.D., chair of the department, worked with Joni Casey, president of IANA, to apply for the award during the fall semester.

Burke is grateful for the opportunity and vote of confidence given to the department by the IANA scholarship committee and board of directors. Official notice of the scholarship award was communicated in late January 2016.

IANA and the Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management share goals and visions for successful growth of the intermodal freight industry by encouraging excellence in the field. Scholarship monies will be distributed toward tuition support for students majoring in undergraduate programs of the department, enhancements to student curriculum like the Logistics Roundtable, and student travel to the Port of Savannah and the Georgia Logistics Summit in Atlanta. The department will also recruit a three-person team to compete in a student case competition at the IANA Expo in Houston, Texas, in October 2016.

Veritiv Rep Speaks to Logistics Classes

Will Vining (LOGT, ’09), manager of Logistics Solutions for Veritiv Corporation, returned to the College of Business recently to speak to students in Chris Boone’s, Ph.D., logistics operations classes. Will experienced success working initially for a trucking company in Savannah before joining Veritiv in 2011 to help grow Veritiv Logistics Solutions (VLS). VLS provides its customers true end-to-end supply chain solutions spanning warehousing and distribution, packaging and facility supplies, and transportation.

Will has returned to Georgia Southern regularly to share his experiences with students and has recruited almost 20 Logistics graduates to join the VLS team over the past four years. On his most recent visit, Will shared examples of how to properly analyze transportation operations and spending with Boone’s classes as the students prepare to undertake a similar course project. This was the second time Will has come to speak to Boone’s classes to help kick-off similar projects. “Having a very successful, recent graduate like Will speak to the realism of the case and the importance of the skills developed as part of the project is invaluable,” said Boone. “I can’t thank Will enough for his willingness to return to Georgia Southern and his continued investment in our students and the logistics program.”

NRFSA Raises Money for A.S.H. Fund

The Georgia Southern University National Retail Federation Student Association (NRFSA) created a crowdfunding account in order to raise money for an aspiring, studious and hard-working high school senior named Ashley. The Ascending Starts Here (A.S.H.) Fund was created to help her, and, eventually, other low-income, high-performing high school students, attend college. The purpose of the fund is to allow poverty-stricken students the opportunity to receive a college education in order to ascend from poverty.

Ashley’s story starts like this: No female in Ashley’s family has ever graduated from high school. In her first two and a half years of high school, she had a 4.2 GPA on a scale of 4.0 and was scheduled to graduate a semester early. Unfortunately, her family moved to another state during her junior year in high school, which required her to transfer high schools. For the next year, Ashley was unable to complete her junior year due to having to move so much, attending four high schools in less than a year. She lost all course credit because she had not been enrolled in school long enough to allow her to take finals. Her GPA dropped, and now she is not eligible for many scholarships that otherwise would have been available to her.

In January 2016, Ashley’s mother realized that, although the new state was good for the rest of the family, the best thing for Ashley would be to let her go back to her “home” state and graduate from high school. One of Ashley’s teachers agreed to take legal guardianship of Ashley so that she could complete high school. With hard work and taking extra classes online, Ashley will finish all of her classes this semester and will graduate in June. Ashley’s dream is to go to college, continuing to break the educational cycle of her family members.

This is where NRFSA comes in. To help Ashley make her dreams of going to college a reality, the student group decided to help raise money for her. The group has set a goal of $5,000, and no donation is too small. If you would like to help make one young woman’s dreams come true, you may donate at youcaring.com/Ashley-mc-517894. NRFSA at Georgia Southern will eventually establish the A.S.H. Foundation to create scholarships for other low-income, high-performing students who want to break their families from the cycles of poverty.

First Entrepreneur Night Held at City Campus

The Business Innovation Group (BIG) hosted the first-ever Entrepreneur Night at City Campus in downtown Statesboro on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, with more than 40 local entrepreneurs, graduate students and faculty gathered for an informal evening of networking. This monthly networking event is designed to connect local entrepreneurs and small business owners with one another in a casual setting while enjoying a complimentary beverage from Eagle Creek Brewery.

Franklin Dismuke, owner of Eagle Creek Brewery, was impressed with the number of entrepreneurs at the event. “It is encouraging to see the growth in the local small business and entrepreneur sector in Statesboro.”

Local entrepreneur Chad Montgomery of 4&20 Bakers (4and20bakers.com) surprised everyone with event-themed mini cupcakes. These chocolate ganache-filled, stout-infused, bite-sized morsels were a huge hit. So much so that Sally Minton, owner of Boro Takeout Express, offered to provide food for all upcoming Entrepreneur Nights.

Entrepreneur Night was a tremendous success. Thanks to everyone who attended and brought such life and energy to City Campus after hours.

Entrepreneur Night is every fourth Tuesday at City Campus (58 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia). If you would like to attend this event, please contact Jill Johns at jjohns@georgiasouthern.edu or RSVP via evite at http://evite.me/wvATCfFXz9.

BBRED Completes Candler County Target Industry and Occupational Analysis

Working with the Candler County Industrial Authority (CCIA), the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development (BBRED) recently completed a Target Industry and Occupational Analysis. The purpose of this study was to provide the CCIA leadership team with a list of industries that could be a good fit with the current Candler County economy. CCIA is using this list of industries to guide their marketing efforts.

The study compared Candler County to two different local geographic areas which, then, served as comparison areas. First, the research team used a grouping of counties contiguous to Candler County. The second group used the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area. Within the comparison area, BBRED found several related industries that are currently missing from this region. Several of these missing industries could be good recruiting targets for Candler County. The industries recommended to CCIA could support businesses, local real estate construction/development, wood products cluster, food processing and manufacturing, and distribution and electronic commerce. The analysis found 12 recommended sectors that are good recruiting targets for Candler County. Currently, CCIA is taking active steps as a direct result of the BBRED study to recruit new businesses to Candler County.

Statesboro Area SHRM and Georgia Southern SHRM Partner

The Georgia Southern University Student Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), along with the Statesboro Area SHRM Chapter, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, in the Coca-Cola Plaza in the Georgia Southern College of Business. In attendance were local, state and national SHRM representatives.

The MOU allows the Georgia Southern SHRM group to participate with the Statesboro Area SHRM Chapter, ultimately creating a partnership between the two groups. The partnership creates a formal mentorship program, provides internships in the HR field, and offers an increased opportunity to promote awareness of the HR profession in the community. According to the MOU, Georgia Southern SHRM students will assist the Statesboro Area SHRM Chapter board in various aspects, including participation in annual strategic planning and collaboration for special events. The Statesboro Area SHRM Chapter, which was named the 2014 state chapter of the year, will also contribute to an annual scholarship that will provide assistance to a current HR student to ease the burden of costs associated with college.

SHRM is a professional human resources organization that provides resources to HR professionals and advances the professional practice of human resource management. The membership organization represents more than 275,000 members in more than 160 countries. With more than 575 affiliate chapters in the United States and abroad, SHRM provides additional local programming and networking opportunities.

Annual Distinguished Forensic Accounting Lecturer

The Forensic Accounting Advisory Board was created in 2007 and held its annual meeting on campus, this year February 3–5, 2016. Approximately 25 board members from various accounting firms, investigative firms, corporations, private companies, government agencies and state and federal law enforcement attended. The one thing these board members have in common is the fight against fraud and the sharing of information concerning best practices in forensic accounting.

As board members, these professionals give to our students and programs in many ways. First and foremost, they act as ambassadors for the College of Business, share our Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting programs to others in their travels and networks, and make donations to an endowment that has been established. Board members offer our students internships and employment hiring opportunities.

This year’s campus visit included

• Mike Reddington of Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, who heads up the Executive Training program for interviews and interrogation, spoke to three classes as “Professor for the Day.”

• Bill Donaldson (ACCT, ’06; MAcc, ’08), deputy inspector general for the state of Georgia, spoke to an audience at the Performing Arts Center, which was estimated at 700 students, faculty and professionals. His presentation addressed work as an investigator in the Atlanta Public School System’s cheating scandal investigation and prosecution. His presentation discussed
  • the longest criminal trial in the history of the state of Georgia,
  • teachers who went to jail and others who lost their teaching certificates, and
  • the pressures that employees face in “Pay for Performance” jobs.

Board meetings included

• discussions with Dean Allen Amason and School of Accountancy Director Tim Pearson,
• a review of the past year’s accomplishments by our programs and by board member contributions, and
• student presentations to the board regarding 1) other forensic accounting programs in the country, 2) “the making of a superhero” forensic accountant, and 3) the internship experience and professional path of a student about to graduate.

The conclusion of the board meetings involved members sitting at lunch with about 30 students who sought out the one-on-one situation.

Calling All College of Business Alumni – Support Phonathon

The 2016 Georgia Southern University Phonathon is currently underway. The Phonathon team serves as a liaison between the university and alumni, parents and friends of Georgia Southern. The Phonathon employs students who provide information to the thousands of members of the Georgia Southern University community, while offering an opportunity to invest in the success of the university. Donations from College of Business alumni, like you, help fund scholarships, professorships, technology upgrades and more.

When you hear from a Phonathon student, please remember he or she is a Georgia Southern student helping to fund his or her education, while ensuring the College of Business is able to achieve its mission of academic excellence.  Please take the time to speak with the caller, update your contact information to stay engaged with the college, and consider making a gift to invest in today’s students.

Eagle Connect

Help us stay in touch with you! Simply go to the Georgia Southern Alumni page and update your contact information.

Last updated: 3/11/2022