Culverhouse College of Business
RESEARCH IMPACT REPORT
2022 - 2023
AT CULVERHOUSE, WE VALUE RESEARCH AND IT SHOWS.
This was our second year being ranked in the UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings list, which ranks business schools by their contributions to research. Culverhouse not only stayed on the list, but climbed in the rankings, from 96th to 88th place in North America.
This is not surprising, given how much of our faculty research appears in what we call “aspirational” research journals — the top publications in business fields. These are the most selective and rigorous peer-reviewed business journals in North America. Because of this, they are also among the most respected.
We added two new degree programs this year: an undergraduate major in business cyber security, and a graduate concentration in sales leadership within the Master of Science in Marketing program. We welcomed several new expert faculty. And for the first time, our enrollment broke 10,000 students, which means we remain the largest and highest-profile college in the University.
This year, we thanked Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Dr. Jim Cochran for his tenure (2017-2023), and we welcomed Dr. Shawn Mobbs to the position. Under Jim’s leadership, Culverhouse grew into a business school with a research enterprise focused on top scholarship that addresses important, real-world issues. Under Shawn’s administration, we expect to see more of the same. In these pages, you’ll see evidence of that work. From studying addictive social media platforms to improving food bank supply chains, from combating sex trafficking and the opioid crisis to division of responsibilities within families, Culverhouse is deeply immersed in the most important issues of the day.
And as always, you can reach out to Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Dr. Shawn Mobbs at hsmobbs@ua.edu with questions or to get connected.
Thanks, and Roll Tide!
Kay M. Palan
Dean, Culverhouse College of Business
RECENT RESEARCH
CULVERHOUSE HIGHLIGHTS
H. Shawn Mobbs Named Associate Dean for Faculty And Research
Dr. Shawn Mobbs, the Thomas D. Russell Professor of Business Administration at the Culverhouse College of Business, was appointed associate dean for faculty and research for a five-year term that started in August of 2023.
Culverhouse Professor to Lead Top Business Journal
Dr. Clay Voorhees was recently introduced as the co-editor of the Journal of Service Research (JSR), which is widely considered the world’s leading service research journal and a top business journal.
Culverhouse Associate Dean Appointed to Branch of Atlanta Fed Board
A longtime economics researcher at The University of Alabama is part of the Federal Reserve System Boards of Directors, joining about 300 people playing a critical role in the effective functioning of the United States central banking system.
Searching for Truth with Numbers
What do heart murmurs, housing prices during the Obama administration, and migration flows into Europe have in common? For Culverhouse econometrician Dr. Daniel Henderson, the answer is in the numbers, and his research centers on the ways that numbers can explain and predict complex relationships.
Culverhouse Faculty Team Makes Informs Finals for Analytical Pipeline to Combat Sex Trafficking
A Culverhouse team consisting of faculty members Drs. Nickolas K. Freeman, Gregory J. Bott, Burcu B. Keskin, Jason Parton, and James J. Cochran placed second in the 2023 INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Award (IAAA) competition in April with their research, “Analytical Pipeline for Identifying Potential Sex Trafficking Victims in Commercial Sex Ad Data.”
GOING PLATINUM:
Culverhouse Team Wins NASA Platinum Ranking
The most surprising thing about the NASA Technology Transfer University Program (NASA T2U) is not that undergraduate students at The University of Alabama actually create viable business plans from NASA patents in just a few weeks, although that’s pretty impressive. The most surprising thing is that the undergrads were doing such a good job with these projects that NASA and the STEM & CREATE Path to the MBA professors had to introduce a new category for excellence.
NEW FACULTY APPOINTMENTS
Wells Addington
Instructor of Business Communications
PhD, English Language and Literature, Case Western Reserve University, 2013
Hunter Coward
Instructor of Business Communications
MA, Communications Studies, The University of Alabama, 2015
James Dubuisson
UA Business LEAD Instructor
MA, Communications Studies, The University of Alabama, 2023
Luisa Escobar
STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA Instructor
MS, Marketing, The University of Alabama, 2017
Qiaogeng Fan
Assistant Professor of Economics
PhD, Economics, Stanford University, 2023
Jonathan Hall
Associate Professor of Economics
PhD, Economics, University of Chicago, 2012
Jenna Hearing
Instructor of Business Communications
MA, Communications Studies, The University of Alabama, 2022
Jacob Humphries
UA Business LEAD Instructor
MA, Communications Studies, The University of Alabama, 2023
Jan Jones
Instructor of Strategic Management
MS, Marketing, The University of Alabama, 2020
Kyeong Hun (Kyle) Lee
Assistant Professor of Finance
PhD, Finance, The University of Iowa, 2014
Matthew McCool
STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA Instructor
MBA, The University of Alabama, 1989
Justin Moon
Instructor of Strategic Management
MA, Management, The University of Alabama, 2015
Keith Norton
UA Business LEAD Instructor and LEAD Coach
MS, Marketing, The University of Alabama, 2021
Mengke Qiao
Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems
PhD, Information Systems and Analytics, National University of Singapore, 2023
Tian Qiu
Assistant Professor of Finance
PhD, Finance, University of Kentucky, 2023
Kassandra Ross
Instructor of Marketing
MS, Consumer & Design Science, Auburn University, 2018
Timo (Mikko) Siponen
Professor of Cyber Security and Management Information Systems
PhD, Information Systems, University of Oulu, 2002
Maria Sochi
Instructor of Finance
PhD, Finance, Texas Tech University, 2023
Devin Stein
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
PhD, Entrepreneurship & Emerging Enterprises,
Syracuse University, 2023
Greta Wages
Instructor of Human Resources
MPPA, Mississippi State University, 1992
Lauren Wilson
UA Business LEAD Instructor and LEAD Coach
MBA, The University of Alabama, 2012
Charles (Mike) Wittmann
Department Head and Professor of Marketing
PhD, Marketing, Texas Tech University, 2001
AWARD SEASON
Jim Cochran
Jim Cochran won The American Society for Quality’s 2023 William G. Hunter Award in September. It celebrates “excellence in statistics as a communicator, a consultant, an educator, an innovator, an integrator of statistics with other disciplines, and an implementor who obtains meaningful results.”
Junsoo Lee
Junsoo Lee won the Maekyung-KAEA (Korea-America Economic Association) Economist Award in October. The award, which recognizes “members who have achieved outstanding scholarly accomplishment and significantly impactful research contributions,” included a plaque and a $10,000 gift.
Burcu Keskin
Burcu Keskin won the 2023 Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award in November. One of the University’s most coveted awards, it recognizes faculty excellence in research.
Discover stories about the Culverhouse College of Business community in the just-updated Culverhouse newsroom. There you will also find media highlights, student and alumni profiles, and annual reports.
