Fall 2026 Issue 1
- Financial Literacy Initiative Produces Measurable Student Impact
- School Expands Innovation and Entrepreneurship Efforts in Middle Georgia
- Character Integration Project Brings Ethical Leadership Across the Curriculum
- November Events Showcase the School's Research and Community Engagement
- Faculty Scholarship With Impact
- New Faculty in the School of Business
Financial Literacy Initiative Produces Measurable Student Impact
The School of Business is turning financial literacy education into measurable student outcomes through its Build Your Buffer Savings Challenge.
The initiative encourages students to establish a modest emergency savings fund while developing financial habits that can continue long after graduation. More than 200 students have participated in the program, with participants reporting an estimated $32,200 in total savings. Through Spring 2026, 69 students had completed the full savings challenge.
The impact extends beyond the dollars saved. Survey results also suggest meaningful changes in how students think about personal financial preparedness. The percentage of participants rating the importance of saving as either high or very high increased substantially between the beginning and end of the program.
Build Your Buffer is part of a broader School of Business commitment to financial literacy that combines education, applied programming, and research. Faculty are examining student attitudes and behaviors related to saving, investing, financial knowledge, and perceived control over financial decisions.
That research will be highlighted during the School's Financial Literacy Research Symposium on November 19, featuring faculty members Doug Bice, Everod Davis, and Marc Miller.
The initiative reflects a simple philosophy: financial literacy becomes most meaningful when students move beyond knowing what they should do and begin putting that knowledge into practice.
The School's financial literacy research and programming are supported through a generous gift from the Peyton Anderson Foundation.
School Expands Innovation and Entrepreneurship Efforts in Middle Georgia
The School of Business is expanding its efforts to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development through the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
The Center provides students and aspiring entrepreneurs with a place to move from an initial idea toward a more clearly defined business concept. Using tools such as the Value Proposition Canvas and Business Model Canvas, participants can examine the problem they hope to solve, identify potential customers, clarify the value of their idea, and begin developing a viable business model.
The goal is not simply to encourage entrepreneurship. It is to provide a structured process that helps individuals determine whether an idea is worth pursuing—and how it might be strengthened.
Student engagement is an important part of that mission. This fall, the Center will host a 90-second Pitch Competition with two categories: Business Idea and Societal Impact. The format challenges students to communicate an idea clearly and persuasively while developing skills in creativity, problem solving, and professional communication.
The Center is also developing research and outreach initiatives designed to better understand entrepreneurship throughout Middle Georgia, including work examining entrepreneurial activity, student-run businesses, and the needs of current and prospective entrepreneurs.
Together, these efforts support a larger objective: creating stronger connections among students, faculty, entrepreneurs, businesses, and community organizations while helping promising ideas move from concept toward action.
Character Integration Project Brings Ethical Leadership Across the Curriculum
Developing knowledgeable graduates is central to the mission of higher education. Middle Georgia State University is also asking an equally important question:
How can universities help students develop the judgment and character needed to use that knowledge responsibly?
MGA's Character Integration Project is addressing that question by helping faculty intentionally incorporate character development, ethical reasoning, and reflection into courses across academic disciplines.
Led by Dr. Winfield Tufts of the School of Business, the three-year initiative is supported by more than $200,000 in funding through Wake Forest University's Educating Character Initiative.
More than 30 MGA faculty members representing multiple academic areas participated in a faculty development workshop this fall. Those faculty are now working to incorporate character-focused activities and discussions into their courses, giving the project the potential to reach thousands of students over the life of the initiative.
The project does not treat character as a separate topic reserved for ethics courses. Instead, it encourages faculty to consider how qualities such as integrity, courage, responsibility, empathy, humility, and sound judgment relate to the decisions students will encounter within their own professions and communities.
For the School of Business, the work complements ongoing efforts in leadership development, ethical decision-making, and responsible management.
The ultimate objective is larger than preparing students for their first job. It is helping prepare graduates to become professionals, leaders, and citizens whom others can trust.
November Events Showcase the School's Research and Community Engagement
The School of Business will bring together students, faculty, and community members during November for a series of programs highlighting ethics, innovation, and financial literacy.
The month begins during MGA's Ethics Week with a presentation by Aaron Beam on November 3 at 10:00 a.m. in the Math Auditorium on the Macon Campus. Beam's firsthand experience with corporate ethical failure and its consequences provides a powerful foundation for examining how pressure, leadership, and individual choices can influence organizational behavior. The program is supported by the Character Integration Project and the School of Business.
On November 12, the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship will host its fall Pitch Competition. Students will have 90 seconds to present an idea in either the Business Idea or Societal Impact category. The event provides students with an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial thinking, sharpen their communication skills, and receive feedback on ideas with commercial or community potential.
The month concludes with the Financial Literacy Research Symposium on November 19 at 12:30 p.m. on the second floor of the University Library on the Macon Campus. Faculty members Doug Bice, Everod Davis, and Marc Miller will share findings from the School's growing financial literacy research program.
Although the programs address different topics, they reflect a common theme within the School of Business: connecting academic work to the decisions, opportunities, and challenges facing students and communities.
From ethical leadership to new venture development to personal financial wellbeing, the School is working to make business education increasingly applied, accessible, and relevant.
Faculty Scholarship With Impact
Research has its greatest value when it helps us better understand—and ultimately improve—the world around us.
That philosophy is increasingly visible in faculty scholarship within the School of Business, where research projects are connecting directly with student learning, university initiatives, and issues affecting the Middle Georgia community.
Faculty members Doug Bice, Everod Davis, and Marc Miller are examining financial literacy and financial decision-making among college students. Their work explores how students approach behaviors such as saving and investing and how factors including attitudes, social influences, confidence, and perceived control shape financial intentions.
That scholarship is closely connected to the School's financial literacy programming, including the Build Your Buffer Savings Challenge. Rather than treating research and outreach as separate activities, the School is using each to inform the other.
Faculty are also examining entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Research involving Bill Hervey and Everod Davis explores student entrepreneurship and the educational value of student-run business experiences, contributing to the work of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Other School initiatives are generating opportunities for scholarship in areas including character development, project management, online learning, artificial intelligence, and teaching innovation.
The common thread is scholarship with application.
Faculty research strengthens classroom teaching, provides students with opportunities to participate in meaningful inquiry, and gives the School a stronger evidence base for developing programs that address real needs.
That combination of scholarship, teaching, and engagement is becoming an increasingly important part of the School of Business's contribution to MGA and the communities it serves.
New Faculty in the School of Business
The School of Business welcomed four new faculty members this academic year, bringing a wide range of academic expertise, industry experience, and professional perspectives to our students and programs.
Dr. Mohammad Ali, Assistant Professor of Economics, joins the School with expertise in development economics, natural resource economics, human capital, health, nutrition, and economic sustainability. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of New Mexico and has published nine peer-reviewed articles in journals including Economics Letters, Agricultural Economics, and Water Economics and Policy. His teaching experience includes economics, econometrics, statistics, and money and banking, and his work adds additional strength to the School's growing emphasis on applied economic research.
Cassie Napier, Instructor of Supply Chain Management, brings a multidisciplinary background spanning supply chain management, information systems, data analytics, and technology. Her combination of technical and operational expertise supports the School's continued development of supply chain and logistics education—areas that are increasingly important to employers throughout Middle Georgia and beyond. Napier is also continuing her own academic development as she pursues a Doctor of Science in Information Technology in MGA' School of Computing.
Dr. David Nickell, Associate Professor of Marketing, brings extensive experience from both higher education and industry. He earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Georgia State University, an MBA from Emory University, and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Kentucky. His research interests include business-to-business marketing, digital communication, customer engagement, sales, sponsorships, innovation, and emerging technologies. In addition to his academic career, Nickell has worked with or consulted for organizations including UPS, AT&T, EarthLink, Chick-fil-A, Kimberly-Clark, and the Atlanta Falcons. His ability to connect marketing theory with current business practice provides students with an especially valuable applied perspective.
Amy Tarpley, Lecturer in the School of Business, brings more than two decades of leadership and professional experience across higher education, government, manufacturing, finance, and federal service. Her background includes leadership roles with Middle Georgia State University, Irving Tissue, the Macon-Bibb Industrial and Airport Authorities, and the Air Force Audit Agency. Tarpley teaches in areas including Business Communication and Marketing and brings particular strengths in professional communication, stakeholder engagement, leadership, financial management, and economic development. Her extensive connections with MGA alumni and the Middle Georgia community also strengthen the School's commitment to external engagement.
Together, these four faculty members broaden the School's expertise while reinforcing a central priority: giving students access to faculty who combine strong academic credentials with practical experience and a commitment to student success.
Their arrival also reflects the School of Business's continued investment in programs that matter to the region—from economics and supply chain management to marketing, communication, analytics, and business leadership.