January 2026 Desk of the Dean

Happy New Year!

We are excited to begin the new semester with good news from fall 2025. A total of 549 CoBT students earned Dean’s List honors and 272 achieved a perfect 4.0 on the President’s List, representing 39% of our undergraduate students. I have been impressed by the dedication of CoBT faculty, staff, students, and partners who model academic excellence each day, and I appreciate the enthusiasm you bring to make our students and programs successful.

With a full spring semester ahead, we are moving forward. I encourage you to join us for the upcoming Executive Forum, where we'll hear from Rebekah Snider, Executive Director of Visit Milledgeville, and other economic development experts. Register for the Executive Forum: For the Love of Community on February 2nd.

As we begin the new year, I invite you to read about our December commencement ceremony, and to consider joining us during Homecoming Weekend, February 20-22. You may also enjoy learning about the recent GCSU alums who were featured in Georgia Trend Magazine's annual list of the 500 most influential non-elected leaders in the state, many of whom studied in the halls of Atkinson. Please nominate your colleagues for the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 40 under 40 Awards.

Finally, as the new year begins, we ask that you stay connected and keep your information up to date in our alumni records system. You can do so by visiting this link.

I wish you all the best for a wonderful year ahead.

Sincerely,

Dr. Faye McIntyre

Interim Dean

College of Business & Technology

Students in Dr. Mohsen Mosayebi’s Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain Management course partnered with the GCSU Department of Public Safety this fall, applying classroom learning to real-world challenges through a community-based project.

The Department of Accounting & Business Law offers a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting (B.B.A.) and a Master of Accountancy (MAcc) degree. The department employs 22 full‑time faculty members with diverse academic backgrounds, including degrees from the University of Durham (UK), Loughborough University, Georgia State University, Ohio State University, University of Florida, University of Houston, University of Miami, Texas Tech University, University of Georgia, and Western Michigan University.

• The GCSU Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the Accounting Business Fraternity, has been selected to participate in the 2026 Best Practices Project Competition at the Cincinnati Mid-Year Meeting in March. Co-presidents Abigail Hardt and Grace Jones submitted a service project proposal to assist the local Midway Hills elementary school in partnership with Communities in Schools. The project launches on January 12.

• Dr. Mohammad Jizi was ranked by ScholarGPS among the top 1.67% accounting researchers. He also ranked among the top 1.95% for governance research and 2.51% for sustainability, out of tens of thousands of scholars evaluated.

• The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program launches on February 5th and provides free tax preparation for Milledgeville and Baldwin County residents. Click here to read more about this program.

He began his career in public accounting with KPMG in Atlanta after earning his undergraduate degree in Accounting from University of West Georgia and a Master’s degree in Taxation from Georgia State University.

Scott spent 20 years in the financial accounting services industry, including serving as Head of Private Equity Fund Services for JP Morgan in Bermuda, where he led all aspects of fund accounting operations, client service, staffing, and policy development.

He later became Senior Vice President at Horseshoe Fund Services, directing the private equity fund accounting group and contributing to strategic initiatives as a member of the Risk Committee. His leadership included launching a U.S. tax compliance team, implementing tax software solutions, and negotiating service agreements that generated significant recurring revenue.

Four years ago, Scott transitioned back to academia, first teaching at Kennesaw State University before joining Georgia College & State University in 2022. He now teaches principles of accounting and federal taxation and leads the university’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which provides hands‑on experience for students while serving low‑income, seniors, and other taxpayers in the community.

His career reflects a rare blend of industry accomplishment and educational commitment, grounded in a lifelong dedication to the accounting profession.

Dr. Pridmore and Ms. Collier led 15 students to Grace Hopper 2025, the world's largest gathering of women technologists.

• Bob Ewing, owner of Amici Milledgeville, spoke with the Entrepreneurship Club.
• Undergraduate Marketing major, Joby McDonald, led by Dr. Mary Rickard, placed 16th in the Intercollegiate Sales Competition, held at Florida State University.
• Dr. Nicholas Creel was featured in The Wall Street Journal.

• The Small Business Institute class, led by Mr. Kent Hill, sold 240 tie-dyed t-shirts, raising $3,033.42 for the Women's Soccer Team.

• The Department of Economics & Finance hosted two mock job interview visits for Emory University PhD candidates Rachel Clohan and Noah MacDonald '20. They showcased what typically happens in an on-campus interview for a PhD program including a research presentation, lunch with faculty or search committee and meeting with the chair.

• Dr. Brent Evans and former GCSU professor, Dr. Doug Walker's paper, "How casino match play promotions can hook gamblers (and non-gamblers)," was accepted for publication in the UNLV Gaming Research and Review Journal.

• Drs. Brent Evans and Doug Walker had a second paper accepted: "How bad sports betting research can lead to bad sports betting regulation" in the Journal of Gambling Business and Economics. Dr. Evans presented this work as part of an invited seminar at the College of Charleston.

• Dr. J. J. Arias attended the Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, presiding over the Executive Board of Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE), the International Economic Society. He also moderated the Distinguished Economist Award Lecture by Nobel Award winner and M.I.T economist, Daron Acemoglu.

• Dr. Mehrnaz Khalaj Hedayati presented “Beyond the Lecture: Student Reflections on Applied Statistics in Action” at the 2025 Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) Annual Conference.

• Dr. Mohsen Mosayebi presented "Dual-Path Pedagogy in Operations Management: Integrating Project-Based and Research-Based Methods" at the 2025 Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) Annual Conference. The paper was co-authored with Dr. Mehrnaz Khalaj Hedayati and published in the conference proceedings.

• Dr. Ward Risvold was interviewed by the Agile Network on Security and AI.

• CS/IS students Noah Tobar, Sawyer Durden, Jacob Blevins, and Wigleniel Rosa-Hernandez were sponsored to attend the TAPIA Computing conference in September.

• Dr. Ania Rynarzewska co-authored and published "The role of social media content creators in reputation repair: a netnographic study of Depp v. Heard" in the Journal of Product & Brand Management. She also co-authored and published, "Women with suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, or intimate partner violence in the emergency department" in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health.

• Data science student teams partnered with Thiele Kaolin Company on a semester-long data science project analyzing millions of maintenance records to better understand rising maintenance costs and operational trends and presented at the end of the semester. The project emphasizes real-world data analysis, cross-plant comparisons, and actionable insights to support process improvement.

The Small Business Institute Course, led by Mr. Kent Hill, celebrating a successful semester selling tie-dyed t-shirts to raise funds for the GCSU Women's Soccer Team.

The Student Managed Investments Committee held its year-end banquet and awards ceremony. Read more about the Student Managed Investments Committee in Front Page.

The Master of Accountancy (MAcc) emphasizes graduate-level accounting topics and business skills in areas identified by the profession as critical for success in a challenging and dynamic business environment. Apply today!