COLES Annual Review 2018-2019
CHANGE BRINGS INNOVATION Academic year 2018-2019 was a period of significant change for the Michael J. Coles College of Business. The College welcomed a new interim dean, created new research opportunities for undergraduate students, forged new interdisciplinary partnerships, and oversaw the reclassification of its doctoral degree into a PhD program, all while working to implement new University President Pamela Whitten’s vision of transforming Kennesaw State University into an exceptional R2 institution. The changes allowed the Coles College of Business to continue providing students with experiential education that prepares them for a variety of potential careers. In addition, the College’s focus on producing business-relevant research led faculty – as well as students – to conduct research that will have lasting impacts on the educational and business communities. Academic year 2018-2019 may have been a year of change, but it was also a year of excellence.
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AWARDS & RANKINGS
SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES
This year saw many of the Coles College’s hallmark initiatives hit important milestones, highlighting their valuable roles in furthering the College’s mission.
The Coles College of Business continues to earn high rankings recognizing the strength of its programs and the success of its students and faculty.
■ The Executive MBA Program was ranked 1st in Georgia and 7th in the world by CEO Magazine in its 2019 Global Executive MBA rankings, and was recognized as a Global Tier One program for the 5th consecutive year. ■ CyberDegrees.org ranked Kennesaw State University #1 in online cybersecurity degrees in 2019 for the BBA in Information Security and Assurance and the eDegree in Cybersecurity. ■ Kennesaw State was recognized as a Top University Sales Program by the Sales Education Foundation for the 13th year in a row in 2019. ■ Kennesaw State University was ranked 14th in the U.S. in Intelligent.com’s 2020 Best Online Cybersecurity Degrees. ■ For the second year in a row, Billboard Magazine named the Joel A. Katz Music and Business Entertainment Program a Top 15 music business program. ■ The Coles College WebMBA is ranked 23rd in the world by QS World University Rankings in its 2019 Online MBA Rankings. ■ U.S. News &World Report ranked Coles College’s WebMBA program 21st in its 2019 listing of the Best Online MBA Programs. ■ Poets&Quants ranked Kennesaw State University’s WebMBA program 26th in its 2019 list of Top Online MBA Programs based on admissions standards, student experiences, and career outcomes. ■ The Part-time MBA ranked 5th among public, part-time MBAs in Georgia in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best Grad School rankings.
■ Online MBA Report ranked the Georgia WebMBA program 1st in Georgia, 9th in the South, 22nd among public colleges, and 27th in the country. ■ The WebMBA ranked 73rd in BusinessStudent. com’s Top 100 Online MBA Programs for 2019. ■ Kennesaw State was ranked the 36th Best Online College and University by Best College thanks to online BBA and cybersecurity degrees. ■ The executive MBA Program ranked the 17th Best EMBA Program by Ivy Exec.
■ In Summer 2019, Ruben Mocuta became the first graduate of Kennesaw State’s online Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Program, which is a collaboration between the Coles College, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Computing and Software Engineering. ■ The first cohort of students in the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program graduated in July 2018. ■ The Cox Family Enterprise Center – Kennesaw State’s first-ever endowed center and one of the oldest family business resource centers in the world – held its 25th annual Family Business of the Year Awards, recognizing seven exceptional family businesses.
■ Accounting fraternity Beta Alpha Psi achieved “Superior” status, recognizing the chapter’s cumulative 235 hours of community service and 305 hours of professional development. ■ The College received $4.5 million in donations from 469 individual donors during the 2018-2019 academic year. ■ The School of Accountancy increased the value of its annual scholarship offerings by more than $40,000, bringing the total amount awarded to $229,000. ■ The Women’s Leadership Center launched the second cohort of its Young Women’s Leadership Forum, a networking group for professional women in their 30s, bringing the total to 45 women.
NUMBERS THAT TALK
#1 EMBA Program in Georgia #1 Online Cybersecurity Degree #1 Online MBA in Georgia #5 Part-time MBA in Georgia #23 WebMBA in the world #36 Best Online College
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NEW PROGRAMS & INNOVATIONS
STUDENT COMPETITIONS
Through competitions at the local, regional, national, and global levels, Coles College students put their skills to the test in scenarios designed to resemble real-world business challenges.
The Coles College continued to explore new, innovative ways to create exciting opportunities for student success.
■ New President Pamela Whitten led an initiative to reclassify the College’s Doctor of Business Administration program into a PhD of Business Administration, recognizing the program’s focus on scholarly research. ■ In May 2019, the Master of Business Administration program began enrolling students in its new classroom facility located in the City Springs Complex in Sandy Springs. ■ The Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity launched an undergraduate student working paper series to highlight their undergraduate research fellows. ■ Another new Bagwell project, the Market For Ideas reading group, invites students to engage in guided discussions with faculty about books focusing on economics and related disciplines. ■ Research Director Jomon Paul organized the first annual Coles College Research Symposium on Homeland Security showcasing student and faculty research from across the country on natural disasters, cybercriminals, and terrorism. ■ Kennesaw State’s Analytics and Data Sciences Institute partnered with the Coles College and other colleges on a graduate Applied Analytics Project Course, which allows students to work with real transaction data from corporate partners to solve problems and look for opportunities. ■ The Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program and the Analytics and Data Sciences Institute joined with MagMutual Insurance Company to open a Healthcare Management and Informatics Research Lab to help provide valuable data to the insurance industry.
■ Grants worth $2.81 million from Tommy and Chantal Bagwell and the Koch Foundation helped fund the work of the Coles College’s Education Economics Center. Under the leadership of Dr. Ben Scafidi, the center explores data-driven solutions to challenges faced by public schools. ■ The Department of Information Systems began offering a special topics course on blockchain technology to complement Georgia’s statewide FinTech Academy initiative. ■ The Women’s Leadership Center launched its Aspiring Women Leaders Forum. This cohort of women in their 20s fromWLC member companies meets quarterly to discuss leadership and to network. Fifteen participants made up the inaugural cohort. ■ The Master of Accounting program reorganized its curriculum to focus on CPA exampreparation. Students now sit for all four parts of the exam during the two-semester program. The change included creating two new courses focusing on CPA exam prep and special development.
■ For the fourth year in a row, MBA students won the LINKS Global Supply Chain Competition, a simulation where they make high-pressure supply chain decisions for a manufacturing company. ■ Kennesaw State’s Cyber Defense Team placed second in the Southeastern Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, hosted almost each year by the Coles College since 2006. ■ The Kennesaw State Sales Team finished 13th in the 21st annual National Collegiate Sales Competition, with student Megan Colapinto
■ Master of Accounting Student Beth White was part of a first-place team in a case competition at the Internal Audit Exchange Program in Orlando, participating alongside students from around the world. ■ Offensive Security Research Club members won a Capture the Flag competition sponsored by cybersecurity consulting firm Coalfire during the B-Sides Atlanta cybersecurity conference. ■ Six Kennesaw State students – five from the Coles College – won more than $4,000 in funding for their business ideas at the INC Pitch Competition, organized by the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center and Cobb County business accelerator IgniteHQ.
finishing 6th in the individual category. Organized by the Center for Professional Selling, the NCSC is the world’s largest collegiate sales competition.
Creating opportunities for students to thrive is the College’s chief responsibility. Some successes include earning prestigious industry scholarships, presenting on human rights at The Hague, and launching a successful music competition.
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
■ Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics student Fortune Onwuzuruike earned the 2019 Richard P. Covert Scholarship for Management Systems, awarded by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society to four students nationally. ■ Information Security and Assurance major Veaceslav Cretu became the second Coles College student ever to speak at the One Young World Summit in The Hague, Netherlands. He addressed the Internet’s role in promoting education in developing countries. ■ Four Coles College students presented research
at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April. NCUR saw more than 5,000 students visit Kennesaw State for one of the country’s largest presentations of undergraduate research. ■ Twenty Coles College students were among the first student researchers ever to present findings at the Atlantic Marketing Association Conference in its 43-year history. ■ An inventory management system designed by Jonnathan Palacios and Nejra Lilic in Dr. Dominic Thomas’ application development
course will be implemented by a Reliable Heating and Air, where Palacios works.
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■ 230 Coles College students participated in Kennesaw State education abroad programs, which is a 15 percent increase from the previous year. ■ Students Royland Lyons and Alex Stoecker organized the second annual High Note Music Competition, collaborating with three other universities and with entertainment industry professionals to create opportunities for student musicians. ■ Entrepreneurship major Christian Brown partnered with Enactus to launch the popular Your Visionary Podcast, where he interviews business leaders. As of April 2019, the show had 1,000 downloads.
■ Before graduating in spring with a degree in economics, Gabe Valeanu organized fundraisers for the Center for Sustainable Journalism, helping raise more than $60,000 in 2018. ■ The Enactus team formed BROOTS, a business that sells succulents planted inside repurposed aluminum cans, to raise money for elementary school sustainability programs. They raised more than $8,000 between fall and spring. ■ Information Systems student Ryan Bishop provided expert support during a three-day meeting of the International Organization for Standardization on creating technology standards for devices on shipping vessels.
The 2018-2019 academic year saw leadership changes across the College, including the appointment of a new interim dean, while many faculty members earned important recognitions in their fields.
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
■ After serving as dean since 2012, Dr. Kat Schwaig became the University’s fourth Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Schwaig had previously served as interim and associate dean, interim director of the School of Accountancy, and professor of information systems.
■ The Entrepreneurship Center selected Dr. Birton Cowden, former Director of New Ventures at the University of Massachusetts’ Isenberg School of Management, as its first- ever research director. ■ Dr. Sweta Sneha, director of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program, was a finalist in Women in Technology’s 2018 Women of the Year Awards. ■ The Journal of International Business Society awarded Dr. Lance Brouthers the Silver Medal Award for having five or more substantive contributions in the journal within the last five years. ■ Erin Wolf, Founding Director of the Women’s Leadership Center, spoke at the inaugural TEDxNashvilleWomen, titled “The Conversation Begins.” ■ Dr. Benjamin Scafidi, Director of the Education Economics Center, spoke to the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor ’s panel “Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How Underfunded Public Education Shortchanges America’s Students.” ■ Coles College faculty led seven education abroad programs to six countries: China, Dominican Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and United Kingdom.
DR. ROBIN CHERAMIE WAS APPOINTED THE COLES COLLEGE’S INTERIM DEAN.
ALUMNI SUCCESSES
Few things speak to the success of a College like the success of its alumni. Coles College alumni continue to distinguish themselves in their organizations.
■ Dr. Robin Cheramie was appointed the Coles College’s Interim Dean. She is the Director of the Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship and Hospitality and a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. ■ Dr. Ken Harmon, Kennesaw State University’s longtime provost and former interim president, returned to the Coles College as a faculty member in the School of Accountancy, where he formerly held the director position. ■ Former Leven School assistant director, Dr. Greg Quinet, became executive director of the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center. Quinet, an experienced entrepreneur who founded three successful businesses, plans to expand the center’s reach to non- business students. ■ Dr. Joe Astrachan was named a Top 25 Leading Contributing Author in Entrepreneurship by the Journal of Small Business Management.
■ Accounting alumnus Brian Pendley received a Distinguished Alumni Award in October. An SOA advisory board member since 2000 and its previous chairman, Pendley is a partner in Ernst & Young’s assurance practice and the campus recruiting coordinator for Kennesaw State. ■ Nicholas Tanner Griffin earned an internship with NASA at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. via their Pathways Intern Employment Program. Griffin earned an international business degree in 2016 and a Master of Science in Information Systems in 2018. ■ MBA alumna Angela Farsee, who also holds an undergraduate degree from Kennesaw State, was promoted to Vice President of Human Resources for Georgia Transmission Corporation. ■ In January, Dan Tucker became Southern Company Gas’s Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer. Tucker majored in accounting and finance at Kennesaw State. ■ Engineering Georgia Magazine honored Georgia Department of Transportation Board Member Stacey Key its “100 Influential Women to Know” feature. Key holds an MBA from the Coles College. ■ Economics graduate Christy Cleare became the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Assistant Vice President and Community Affairs Officer in April. ■ MBA graduate Dr. Stanley Fineman, a physician with Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, was one of eight doctors from the practice recognized by Atlanta Magazine as one of “Metro Atlanta’s Top Doctors.” ■ Dr. Yves-Rose Porcena, who holds a DBA from the Coles College, in June 2019 was selected as Agnes Scott College’s inaugural Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.
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FACULTY RESEARCH
Coles College faculty are at the forefront of research into business education and practice with papers published in major academic journals and research completed alongside government agencies.
Inviting business leaders and other prominent community members to campus introduces students to new and diverse voices and provides glimpses into possible career paths.
VISITING GUESTS
■ Two papers written by Coles College faculty were published in Financial Times Top 50 Journals. ■ Informed Traders’ Performance and the Information Environment: Evidence from Experimental Asset Markets, co-written by Dr. Lucy Ackert was published in Accounting, Organizations and Society. ■ Do Debt Covenants Constrain Borrowings Prior to Violation? Evidence from SFAS 160, co-written by Dr. Sunay Mutlu, appeared in The Accounting Review. ■ Drs. Michael Maloni and Stacy Campbell completed a multi-year study alongside other faculty and the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Center for Innovation for Logistics to find ways to fill the state’s logistics industry talent shortage. ■ The first annual Coles Research Symposium on Homeland Security saw faculty from five universities around the country visit Kennesaw
■ College namesake Michael Coles, co-founder of the Great American Cookie Company, spoke at a spring Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series event, where he shared his life story and spoke about the importance of mentorship. ■ Michael Coles also presented at the 19th annual Lessons in Leadership event, where he spoke to a crowd of Executive MBA students and alumni about succeeding in business. ■ Steve Koonin, CEO of the Atlanta Hawks, participated in the September Tetley event, discussing how brands tailor marketing messages for specific audiences. ■ In November, Debbie Pike, former Chief Marketing Officer for Arby’s, also spoke in the Tetley series, where she shared with students the importance of working for organizations whose values align with their own. ■ Rob Hale, CEO of Granite Telecommunications and Co-Owner of the Boston Celtics, was the academic year’s final Tetley speaker. His presentation focused on how to learn from mistakes. He also encouraged students to take more business risks while they are young. ■ Kristi Johnson, Partner at Windham Brannon and an alumnus of the School of Accountancy, was the guest speaker at the Fall Beta Gamma Sigma Induction Ceremony ■ The Spring BGS Ceremony featured keynote speaker Michele Velcheck, Founder and CEO of Solid Source Realty and a management alumnus. ■ The Coles College Learning Initiatives series - called “The Future of Work” – taught students and faculty how technology will impact
State to share their research on the political and business implications of terrorism, cyberattacks, and natural disasters. ■ Researchers from 12 universities around the world participated in the Coles Research Seminar Series, including faculty from schools like Washington State University, Cleveland State University, Baylor University, and the National University of Singapore, among others. ■ The following faculty research papers received the Coles College of Business Working Paper Series Awards: ■ Drs. Jomon Paul and Minjiao Zhang Decision-Support Model for Cybersecurity Risk Planning: A Two-stage Stochastic Programming Framework Featuring Firms, Government, and Attacker
employment opportunities in the future. Expert presenters included: ■ Jim Nasr, Vice President of Technology and Innovation for Synchrogenix ■ Mike Stefanick, Executive Director - Digital, Analytics, Robotics and Big Data - Enterprise Data, Analytics & Digital Platforms at Ernst & Young ■ Kelly Monahan, Organizational Behaviorist, Leader of Deloitte’s Global Future of Work Research ■ Bill Franks, Chief Analytics Officer for International Institute for Analytics ■ Dr. Dave Schrader, Retired Technology Director from Teradata ■ Dr. Alvin Roth, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist from Stanford University, spoke at the Symposium on the Foundations and Applications of Game Theory, hosted by the Bagwell Center for the Study of Markets and Economic Opportunity. ■ The Bagwell Center also hosted Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine, who led a presentation entitled “Driving Economic Growth through Tax Policy.” ■ RichardBistrong, former international salesvice president for a global company who served a prison sentence for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, spoke to Coles College students about avoiding the temptation to violate business ethics.
■ Drs. Susan Young and Birton Cowden The Dark Side of Crowdfunding Platforms
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BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS
SAYING GOODBYE
Building partnerships with members of the business community allows the Coles College to serve as a vital link between student and potential employers.
The Coles College said goodbye to two dear friends this academic year, including a valued faculty member and a longtime supporter of the College’s mission.
■ Jack Dinos, who has endowed the Dinos Distinguished Chair of Private Enterprise and the Dinos Eminent Scholar Chair of
■ In January 2019, the College lost experienced marketing educator and professional Richard Mathisen. He formerly had a long career with The Southern Company before joining academia, and also served on the editorial review board of The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and was editor of the Journal of Applied Marketing Theory.
■ The All-Access Business Series brought representatives from the following Atlanta businesses to meet with students and discuss what organizations look for out of new hires:
■ Coles alumni with The Fox Theater, Atlanta Falcons, UPS, the State of Georgia, XPOLogistics, UPS, and Enercon participated in a panel on the value of management degrees. ■ Women leaders from Ryder, Henssler Financial, EY, UHY Advisors, and Piedmont Healthcare made up the inaugural Aspiring Women Leader’s Forum organized by the Women’s Leadership Center. ■ Kennesaw State’s new graduate-level Applied Analytics Project Course saw businesses like SPANX, Coca-Cola, and Cox Enterprises provide real transaction data for MBA students to analyze. ■ The Econometrics Center continued working with government and industry partners to publish the Purchasing Managers Index and the Quarterly Metro Atlanta Consumer Confidence Survey. ■ Kennesaw State’s Enactus team represented the entire Enactus organization in collaboration meetings with Rubbermaid and Cox Enterprises. ■ Leaders at The Home Depot, Enterprise, Budget/ Avis, Nabisco, and Turner have joined the KSU Enactus team’s business advisory board. ■ The School of Accountancy launched a new partnership program to help connect students with prominent members of the Atlanta accounting community. Some partners include: AGL; Carr, Riggs and Ingram; HLB Gross Collins; Apro, among others.
Entrepreneurial Management, passed July 2018. He is also responsible for the establishment of the Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series and an Emeritus Trustee of the Kennesaw State University Foundation.
■ RaceTrac ■ WellStar ■ Chick-Fil-A ■ Target ■ Walgreens
■ Fresnius Medical ■ Sherwin Williams ■ Enterprise Holdings ■ Imagine Media Consultants ■ The Barter Company ■ Blacc Spot Media ■ The Information Systems department continued its Suntrust Information Security fellowship program. IS faculty receive support to conduct research in information security and privacy. ■ The number of Coles College students in internships or cooperatives is 716, more than any other college at Kennesaw State. THE TOP ORGANIZATIONS HIRING STUDENT INTERNS ARE UPS Kennesaw State Georgia Tech Research Institute Henssler Financial Home Depot Granite Telecom
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