April 20, 2023
On Wednesday, April 19, the Board of Regents of the College System of Georgia permitted Columbus State College’s request to rename its enterprise college because the
D. Abbott Turner School of Enterprise & Know-how.
The identify change, Dean Deborah Kidder notes, comes after enter from a number of stakeholder teams—college students, staff, alumni,
companions and its advisory council members. Collectively, these teams strongly favored
emphasizing the position each enterprise and know-how share in advancing the faculty’s
strategic and aggressive benefits.
“The change encapsulates the essence of our aggressive benefit as a school rooted
in each enterprise and know-how,” mentioned Kidder, who additionally serves as the faculty’s Invoice
Heard Endowed Chair of Enterprise Administration. “Now greater than ever, know-how is
on the coronary heart of enterprise. As a result of the Turner School is AACSB accredited, enterprise and know-how are intertwined by means of our curriculum—that means our college students
profit from each disciplines all through their research.”
Kidder indicated the identify change additionally alerts the excessive demand for know-how professionals—these
graduating from four-year establishments with both a enterprise or a pc science
background, or ideally each. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest job report indicated that the variety of jobs within the tech sector has steadily
elevated, with an employment improve in 2022 of 28% over the identical time in 2021.
She sees having each “enterprise” and “know-how” within the faculty’s identify as a sign
to potential college students, employers and companions that the Turner School curriculum
is modern and versatile.
“Stressing each our enterprise and know-how strengths within the faculty’s identify will assist
us higher market our present and future packages to potential college students,” Kidder
mentioned. “Renaming the faculty on this approach additionally emphasizes to our potential companions
and those that will make use of our future graduates our cutting-edge focus by means of our
dedication to know-how.”
Though “know-how” has not been within the faculty’s identify till now, know-how packages
have undergirded the tutorial expertise for undergraduate and graduate enterprise college students
alike. These have included on-campus and on-line packages in Administration of Info Methods and Info Know-how. Extra lately launched packages in Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Administration, each with undergraduate- and graduate-level diploma choices bridge the enterprise
and laptop science fields.
Like its know-how aspect, the Turner School’s enterprise disciplines have advanced over
the years, Kidder famous. Alongside examine in conventional fields like enterprise administration,
accounting, finance, administration and advertising, the faculty has expanded alternatives
for college students to develop experience in areas that embody organizational management
and servant management.
What doesn’t change is how the faculty’s identify pays tribute to Don Abbott Turner, a Columbus-area enterprise and philanthropic big for greater than six a long time. The
well-respected president and chairman of the boards of the W. C. Bradley Firm and
of the Columbus Financial institution and Belief additionally served as a board member for Coca-Cola, Georgia
Energy, the Central of Georgia Railway, and the Bibb Firm. After his spouse, Elizabeth,
handed away in 1972, Turner’s charitable help established in her honor Columbus
State’s Heart for Persevering with Schooling, which has advanced to Persevering with and Skilled Schooling and is now housed within the Elizabeth Bradley Turner Heart on CSU’s Essential Campus.
The TSYS Faculty of Pc Science, named in honor of help from TSYS, a World Funds Firm, will proceed working
as a faculty inside the faculty, with out change. In 2015, TSYS prolonged its help
with a $5 million philanthropic funding within the Turner School: $2.5 million to
set up and identify the TSYS Heart for Cybersecurity; $2 million to determine the TSYS Endowment for Excellence educational packages supplied
within the TSYS Faculty of Pc Science, with particular emphasis on mainframe computing,
info know-how and data techniques; and $500,000 to help different educational
packages on the college.
Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSYS Heart for Cybersecurity ribbon-cutting occurred in November 2021—however started providing the nexus cybersecurity in fintech, bachelor’s in cybersecurity and grasp’s in cybersecurity administration (together with a web based choice) in August 2020 after they had been permitted by the Board of Regents in October 2019. In the present day, the middle is designated by the Nationwide Safety Company as a Heart of Tutorial
Excellence in Cybersecurity.
The Turner School of Enterprise & Know-how relies within the Synovus Heart for Commerce
and Know-how, positioned on Columbus State’s Essential Campus. The constructing was named in honor of Synovus Monetary Corp. in 2018 in recognition of its longstanding partnership with the college and particular initiatives
within the Turner School.
Columbus State will convert signage and different references to the faculty’s new identify
throughout the summer time. It expects to publicly have a good time the faculty’s renaming with occasions
to coincide with the beginning of the brand new educational yr in August 2023.
Media contact:
Michael Tullier, APR, Govt Director of Strategic Communication + Advertising, 706.507.8729,
[email protected]