June 2025 Desk of the Dean

As we conclude another incredible academic year at the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology, I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you—our faculty, staff, and students. Your dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment have been the driving force behind our successes, and I am truly honored to be part of this remarkable community. You have made serving as the Interim Dean this year a pleasure.

I also wish to extend my appreciation to our alumni and industry partners who support and uplift our mission, ensuring that our students are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in a rapidly evolving world. Your contributions, mentorship, and engagement continue to make a lasting impact. Whether you served as a virtual Elevator Pitch judge, employed student interns, assisted by speaking to clubs or classes, participated as an advisory board member, made a monetary donation, or engaged in other networking opportunities with our students, I want you to know that we could not do all we do without your help.

This year delivered tremendous achievements. We launched our Business Executive in Residence program, bringing an executive to campus for a week each semester. Barry Wolfe joined us in the fall, and Kevin Neary arrived in the spring. This fall, we will welcome Kristina Turner. We also relaunched our Executive Forum program, a speaker and dinner series for local business community members. Kevin Neary and Mike Ciabattoni presented in Spring 2025. We have scheduled Kristina Turner and Lou Childs for Fall 2025. Join us this fall and register on our website.

We completed construction on the Bobcat Boardroom and Bobcat Trading Room. These spaces are being put to good use by our students. We also carved out more office space from various locations in Atkinson Hall. We are starting to update the flooring in the building. The first and second floor lobby and hallways are planned for upgrades this summer. If you have not visited lately, please plan to drop by any time. In addition, you can go ahead and mark the weekend of February 20, 2026, as Homecoming Weekend.

We enjoyed a CoBT night at the GCSU Bobcat baseball game in April. We are planning tailgates for volleyball and soccer this fall. We will provide additional details later, but we would love to have alumni join our faculty at these events.

Georgia College and the CoBT grew this year. In fall 2024, we had 2,189 students in our college compared to 1,830 in fall 2022. Meanwhile, Georgia College grew from 6,315 in fall 2022 to 7,097 (total undergraduate and graduate enrollment) in fall 2024. We are poised for additional growth when the fall 2025 freshmen arrive. Because of our growth, we are welcoming additional faculty this August. Our new faculty will be featured in our August edition of From the Desk of the Dean.

As we look ahead, I am excited about what the future holds for the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology. With such a strong foundation and an incredible network of individuals committed to excellence, I have no doubt that we will continue to reach new heights. Thank you for making this year so memorable and successful—I look forward to all that we will accomplish together in the years ahead!

Sincerely,

Dr. Tanya Goette

Interim Dean

Professor of Management Information Systems

Spring commencement, held on May 10, was a wonderful celebration of our students. From our guest speaker, Mr. Cade Joiner, Founder of Shred-X Corporation, to our student speaker, Emily Chambers, we left inspired and excited for the future. You can view the commencement photo album here, or watch the video here. We also have the album posted on our Facebook page.

Dr. Brent Evans, Mace Bearer

As soon as spring semester ended, 10 business Bobcats packed their bags and toured the state of Georgia. Selected through a rigorous application and interview process, these students represented nearly all majors within the college. Students had the opportunity to network, ask questions about Georgia’s economy, explore new career pathways and make important connections as they prepare to advance their careers. Read the full story in Front Page.

From left to right, Back Row: Jasmine Smith, Veronica Lively, Ila Schwender, Sarah Kreider, Lauren Decker, Keeley Casalou

Front Row: Nancy Finney, Business Outreach Coordinator, Jack Manion, Samuel Josset, Charles Pero, Yash Prajapati, Dr. Mohammad Jizi, Associate Professor of Accounting

They visited SAP Headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. The students also traveled to Cologne where they climbed to the top of the Cologne cathedral and explored the Lindt Chocolate Museum to see how chocolate is made. The students moved on to Muenster, Germany and worked on a Design Thinking Project for Viadee, an German IT Consulting company who asked them to examine their current sustainability efforts and to recommend how to become more sustainable. The students went through the stages of Design Thinking (empathize, ideate, define, prototype and test), developed prototypes, and presented them to the company on the final day in Muenster. Next, they traveled to Paris where they had a lovely dinner on the Siene river, summited the Eiffel Tower, visited the Louvre, Versailles, and many other famous cultural museums and neighborhoods in Paris.

Students at SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany

Dr. Ward Risvold and Ms. Caroline Collier led 22 students from Georgia College & State University on an extraordinary 20-day study abroad program that combined cutting-edge AI education with cultural immersion across four European destinations.

The program focused on AI literacy, AI governance, AI prompting and fine-tuning, as well as vector databases and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) through the expertise of Dr. Risvold and the partnership with Orcawise (The Center for Responsible AI) in Dublin.

The AI classes were enriched by distinguished guest speakers who brought real-world expertise, industry perspectives and cultural insights. Dr. Ashwini Mathur from Novartis and Onesto shared insights on AI governance and ethics. Muddasir Fayez, an engineer from Orcawise, provided technical expertise on RAG development and implementation. James O'Sullivan, senior scrum master from Global Payments, contributed valuable perspectives on Ireland's growing economy and Irish culture. Students cultivated a global perspective on artificial intelligence while enhancing their critical thinking and ethical decision-making abilities through hands-on exercises and discussions with international AI experts.

Throughout their journey in Dublin, Oxford, London and Paris, students developed essential cross-cultural communication skills through immersive experiences. They balanced coursework with cultural exploration—visiting such landmarks as the British Museum and the Louvre and touring the Palace of Versailles. They were also distinguished guests for dinner as part of the High Table at Keble College, one of the 39 colleges at Oxford University.

This transformative experience prepared participants for leadership roles in the rapidly evolving AI field by combining theoretical knowledge with practical applications and deep cultural understanding.

GCSU students at the Pantheon in Paris

• Dr. Whitney Ginder took students on a field trip to AmericasMart for the wholesale apparel in April.

• Dr. Jeannie Pridmore completed the Executive Leadership Institute with the University System of Georgia.

• The Department of Information Systems & Computer Science professionalism classes held their annual networking event with businesses and students.

• Dr. Brent Evans presented a session focusing on personal financial planning at the ElevateU GCSU Staff Conference.

• Drs. Tanya Goette and Brad Fowler participated in a panel discussion on AI in the workplace for the ElevateU Staff Conference.

• Dr. Tom Frye will be attending a conference at the University of Indiana to present research co-authored with colleagues from Florida State University.

• Dr. Tom Frye's paper, 'Neighborhood sorting through parcel acquisitions with negative externalities,' has been accepted for presentation at the ninth Biennial Meeting of the Social Dilemmas Working Group.

• Ms. Jessie Folk and Drs. Brent Evans, Cullen Wallace, and Chris Clark attended the 2025 Spring Economics Workshop at the College of Charleston to present 6 papers.

• Dr. Joanna Schwartz was featured in an NPR Marketplace Interview about the WNBA’s expansion and the league’s increased media exposure and television footprint.

• Drs. Ania Rynarzewska and Nicholas Creel were featured in Fox News discussing concerning social media patterns of violence related to political issues.

• The CoBT sponsored local SHRM Middle Georgia Chapter 154's May meeting at Rigby's in Warner Robins.

• Dr. Stephen Rutner, Associate Professor of Logistics, retired on May 30.

• Dr. Herb Snyder, Department Chair of Accounting & Business Law, is retiring on June 30. Dr. Mohammad Jizi will take over as the Interim Chair of Accounting & Business Law on August 1.

• The CoBT participated in the Chamber's 30th Annual Golf Classic Tournament and continues a strong partnership with the local Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce.

The Master of Management Information Systems is offered as a Double Bobcat program. This allows students to take graduate classes that count toward both their undergraduate and graduate degrees.

This degree positions students for a position in designing, implementing and managing corporate information resources or serving as a liaison between a functional area and a centralized IT office. Students in this program take courses such as Intro to Enterprise Systems, Business & Technology Project, and IT Strategy & Governance.The MMIS program blends technology skills in such areas as SAP and SQL with soft skills in analysis, project management, and strategic planning. Apply today.