Moody Business News: January 2020

Each month, we will share news and accomplishments of Moody College of Business faculty, staff, and students.

January 2020

Programs

• Moody College of Business graduated 308 students (128 MBA, 6 MS Accounting, and 174 BSBA) during the Fall 2019 Commencement.
• The Princeton Review has again rated the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s MBA program among the best in the nation. The education services company included the graduate program on its listing of “Best Business Schools for 2020.”
• The University of Louisiana at Lafayette remains the state’s top university for online bachelor’s programs for the fourth year in a row and has made steady gains in recognition for its online graduate programs, as well. U.S. News & World Report released its annual 2020 Best Online Programs Ranking. UL Lafayette was No. 106 in the Best Online Bachelor’s Programs category, higher than all other Louisiana universities and colleges. The B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration’s MBA online program rose from No. 153 in 2019 to No. 149 in 2020 for Best Online MBA.

Faculty & Staff

• University faculty were honored at a Research Recognition Reception on January 28. The University has made significant progress in growing our Research, Innovation and Scholarship Excellence (RISE) in the past few years, driving us closer towards our institutional goal of achieving an R1 University status. The following Moody College of Business faculty were recognized for fueling this growth through their extraordinary contributions to the RISE profile.
  • 2017-2018 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award for Moody College of Business: Sarah Skinner
  • 2018-2019 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award for Moody College of Business: Denise Benton
  • 2017-2018 Research Excellence Award for Moody College of Business: Ram Thakur
  • 2018-2019 Research Excellence Award for Moody College of Business: Josh Bendickson
  • 2017-2018 Rising Star Award for Moody College of Business: Chase Edwards
  • 2018-2019 Rising Star Award for Moody College of Business: Sarfraz Khan
  • Achievement in Sponsored Research for projects between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in 2017-2018 or 2018-2019: Geoffrey Stewart and Gary Wagner
• Chase Edwards applied for and received admission to the State Bar of Texas. In recent years, approximately half of all entrepreneurs who Chase has helped through programs like Accelerate South and Accelerate Acadiana have been from common law jurisdictions. His admission to the Texas Bar was sought to show future applicants that UL Lafayette has the expertise to handle both civil law and common law business transactions.

Research, Engagement, and Publications

• Mary Luquette had her articles “The case for getting a business credit card” and “You can do it: How to get yourself out of credit card debt in 2020” published by The Daily Advertiser.
• Gary Wagner was a guest panelist at the Acadiana Economic Outlook Summit.
• Colleen Wolverton received the Senior Editor of the Year award from The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems. Since 1969, The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, the longest continually published MIS journal, has had a significant impact on the IS discipline as an outlet for high-quality research. It is an A journal on ABDC. The publication is available through the ACM Digital Library.
• Geoff Stewart and Stephen Barnes participated in economic development meetings with the Acadiana Planning Commission in Washington, DC. They met with the White House Louisiana Opportunity and Revitalization Roundtable, USDA Rural Development, and FCC.
• Stephen Barnes serves as a member of the Governor’s Office Protecting Health Coverage in Louisiana Task Force which was charged with studying the impacts of Texas v. Azar (a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act) and identify policy proposals to mitigate the impacts of an ACA repeal.
• Valerie McGehee has been appointed to the Lafayette Women’s Chamber of Commerce 2020 Board of Directors. She will also serve as Ribbon Cutting Committee Chair.
• Catherine Chauvin has been invited to serve on the University’s Learning Management System (Moodle) Review Taskforce.
• Heather DeValcourt has been invited to serve on the University’s Enrollment Marketing Taskforce and the Convocation Committee.