Faculty Updates
Recent Publications
Dr. Eberle published, “Presidential era wealth inequality and economic performance: A historical examination.” Research in Business and Economics Journal. Volume 14, February 2021, with co-author T.L. Bradley. https://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/203319.pdf
Recent Presentations
Dr. Newman participated in a podcast interview regarding his soon to be published book, Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America for the Mises Institute. The title of the podcast is “Dr. Patrick Newman on Cronyism in America” on The Human Action Podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6GciRQLMlw
Dr. Newman delivered the keynote address, featuring his soon to be published book, Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, as the Hans Sennholz Memorial Lecture, at the Grove City College’s Austrian Students Scholars Conference. http://www.gcc.edu/Home/News-Archive/News-Article/conference-highlights-austrian-school-student-research
Dr. Krause presented, “Using the Job Demand-Control-Support Model to Mitigate Health Practitioner Disengagement and Burnout” at the 40th annual meeting of the Association for Marketing and Health Care Research.
Dr. Weber presented, “Enculturating an Entrepreneurial Mindset within a Heath Care Start-up: A Case Study” at the 40th annual meeting of the Association for Marketing and Healthcare Research.
Community Impact
Dr. Clark has begun volunteering in the VITA program hosted by the Personal Finance Center of Polk County. This program offers free tax preparation for 2020 and the past three years to taxpayers under a certain income threshold. He will volunteer every Monday from 10-3 between now and March 31. This is the early stage of bringing a VITA site to the FSC campus in the coming years, to allow students the opportunity to volunteer with basic income tax preparation. Their involvement would include a certification course and successful completion of an exam before being authorized to prepare tax returns. This will be a great service to provide to our local community and a great experience to put on a future CPA’s resume.
Personal Finance Center of Polk: https://www.financepolk.com/taxprep
IRS VITA: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers
Student Impact
Students in Dr. Dapko’s Digital Marketing course completed two industry certifications from HubSpot in February, Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing. Before the end of the semester, students will complete a total of seven certifications, from both HubSpot and Google, demonstrating their knowledge in important digital media concepts. They will also design and launch a lead-driven WordPress website. The Digital Marketing course is an elective for the new Marketing major offered at the Barnett School of Business & Free Enterprise.
Professor Tracy took the spring term New Ventures class to Catapult for a tour and discussion. The students got an eye opening experience. They came away with an appreciation for the tremendous Catapult resources, along with the broad range of entrepreneurial possibilities. Our own George Connelly (Barnett School Junior, Catapult Marketing Intern & entrepreneur) hosted one of two tour groups. Christin Strawbridge (Workplace Director) with Michelle Harvey (Guest Services Coordinator) hosted the other tour. The tours included a first look at the newly established Maker Space. The Maker Space is equipped with state of the art CAD/CAM equipment, 3D modeling, and custom design & plasma cutting/shaping tools. The equipment works in wood, metals and other materials. It’s a craftsmen/designers dream shop. Following our tour, Gabby of Vicky G’s restaurant pop-up, served us delicious lunch sandwiches. We are looking forward to some entrepreneurial ventures emerging from the experience. Catapult is a hive of entrepreneurial activity.
Student Stories
Rea Joerger: Rea was born and raised in Switzerland and came to the United States to attend Florida Southern College. Since the time Rea was a small child, she has been extremely passionate about exceling in every aspect of her life. She is fluent in six languages, holds multiple national-records in competitive Water Skiing, and is ranked amongst the top female skiers in the world. She is the team captain of the Florida Southern Division 1 Water Ski team as well as part of the student-athlete advisory committee.
Rea is currently pursuing her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Accounting with a 4.0 cumulative GPA. She is balancing her athletic commitments with both a heavy load of coursework and a tax internship at Ironman’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Her supervisor, at Ironman, referred to Rea as “exceptional”, and she especially appreciates Rea’s ability to translate contracts written in German. Professor Jozsi, who serves as Rea’s academic advisor and has taught her four accounting classes, stated that it is indeed a privilege to teach Rea given Rea’s work ethic, initiative, attention to detail, positive and respectful attitude, and analytical skills. Rea has accepted an offer with Ernst & Young in Tampa for a Tax Internship position for the Summer of 2022 and plans to sit for the Florida Certified Public Accountant Examination while she completes the early MAcc program at Florida Southern in 2022.
Bailey Booker: Bailey is a junior majoring in Business Administration and minoring in integrated marketing. He is most interested in a career in marketing. On campus, he is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, and the new AMA chapter. Last summer, he participated in an internship with SCM Innovations, a small direct marketing firm. During his time at SCMI, he acted as an account executive and a corporate trainer in their direct marketing initiative for Quill. He learned how to use a lead database system, pursue leads, make sales and open accounts, and manage clients accounts. He also learned how to train new hires. This upcoming summer he will be interning with Amazon Operations as an area manager in one of their fulfillment centers at a location to be determined in North America. As an area manager intern, he will be learning how to manage a team of 200-250 people and how to most efficiently run his area. He will have the freedom to change processes, which will give him a chance to work cross functionally with other departments like engineering. A big requirement of the internship is design, development, and implementation of an employee incentive program for his team. He will be required to analyze data on the team’s performance based on various metrics. At the end of his internship, he must present Amazon with the results of the incentive program and what he learned during his time with them.
Dean’s Office Updates
Church Management Conference (CMC):
The Barney Barnett School of Business & Free Enterprise is conducting the inaugural Church Management Conference (CMC). This is a three-day educational conference for United Methodist Church (UMC) pastors seeking to enhance their leadership and management skills. Conference sessions will be held over Zoom, beginning March 8th and ending March 10th. The specific CMC educational topics were chosen based on discussions with the Florida Conference of the UMC leadership team, and focus groups conducted with UMC pastors. Topics to be covered include:
- Strategic Planning and Development
- Marketing and the Church
- Managing Change and Conflict
- Financial Management, Development, and Budgeting
- Human Resource Management
The conference is being directed and taught by Dr. Bernthal and Dr. Harris. Additional business school faculty teaching in the conference include Dr. Dapko, Dr. Lewellyn, Dr. Knight, and Dr. Falcon. Approximately 60 pastors are participating in the conference, and they can include their staff and/or lay leaders.
Institute for Accounting Excellence (IAE):
On February 19th, the Institute of Accounting Excellence hosted the “Fair Value Applications in Practice” Conference, which garnered 47 attendees from various companies around Lakeland, Tampa Bay and beyond. The event featured five renowned speakers with decades of experience in fair value accounting and business valuation. Speakers included Edward Trott – Retired KPMG Partner and Former Financial Accounting Standards Board Member, Melissa Henry – CBIZ Director in Accounting Advisory Services, Shaan Elbaum – PwC Partner in Financial Markets Portfolio Valuation, Tony Diab – PwC Director in Financial Markets Portfolio Valuation, and Timothy Bronza – President of Business Valuation Analysts, LLC. Feedback from the event has been outstanding, and we are extremely proud to be able to give back to the community in such an impactful way. The IAE’s next event in our 2020/2021 CPE conference series will be our annual Fraud Conference, which will be held mid-May.
Featured Alumni
Lauren McMahonLauren (Navakoski) McMahon (06’): Lauren graduated in 2006 with a degree in Business Administration w/Concentrations in Hotel Management, International Management, & Marketing, with a minor in Spanish. She was an active member in Alpha Chi Omega, Student Government, Resident Advisor, and Best Buddies. Professionally, she has worked for Hyatt Hotels Corporation for more than 11 years, and she is currently the Director of Sales Operations & Hotel Onboarding. She credits much of her success and opportunities to the Sharp Fellowship that she received as a Junior at FSC. She stated; “The experience of the fellowship was more than just a line on a resume. It afforded me exposure to the hospitality industry on levels that I couldn’t have achieved on my own, providing me with foundational knowledge, but also the experience to uncover personal passions and evaluate next steps in my career intentions. Even after my fellowship was over, Mr. Sharp supported my career path by connecting me with the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau where I formed relationships that have followed me my entire career. I would not be where I am today without the Sharp Fellowship as a part of my foundation. I am so grateful for the opportunity and the generosity that the Sharp family showed to a wide-eyed girl with a dream in her heart.”