If companies want to ensure that pregnant women and new mothers stay on their payrolls, they'd do well to offer competitive maternity benefits. They'd also want to hire and retain supportive managers and leaders. So suggests new research by Samantha Paustian-Underdahl, the Mary Tilley Bessemer Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Florida State University College of Business.

Florida State University President Richard McCullough on Friday hailed 17 elite College of Business students as future "business leaders and community leaders who are going to make a huge difference in the world."

Four Florida State University students, including two from the College of Business, made a 3,000-mile trip two weeks ago to a competition in Tacoma, Washington. But this was no mere journey. This was an odyssey that featured a storybook ending.

​​​​​​​Nada Usina judges people for a living. Ask her. "Actually, that's exactly what I do," she said. Usina spoke recently as the featured guest in the Charles A. Bruning Distinguished Speaker Series, a recurring event in which top executives share career experiences and industry insights with students in the Florida State University College of Business.

On the night before a 16-team event that offered a big prize and a bold experience, SouthState Bank executive Mark Thompson gave participants a pep talk – not about the competition but about their ambition.

Diligence and dedication continue to result in recognition for Maura Scott, recently named Florida State University College of Business' inaugural Dr. Persis E. and Dr. Charles E. Rockwood Eminent Scholar in Marketing.

Toward one end of the shiny third floor of the Rovetta Business Annex, she grabs your attention. Her face, and especially her smile, dominate an encased poster that tells you: "She lived with the future in mind." A few steps from there, a sign at an entranceway reminds you that Persis E. Rockwood lives on. "The Rockwood School of Marketing," said Mike Brady, director of the school and the Bob Sasser Professor of Marketing. "I can't read that – or say that – enough."

Her research shows up in more than a thousand citations by fellow scholars. Her new findings resulted in five papers that are under advanced review at premier marketing journals. She has served on at least four journal editorial boards and at least five dissertation committees. The breadth of achievements by Colleen Harmeling reads like a list of feats that most faculty aspire to accomplish over the course of their career. For her success as an emerging female research star and mentor, the American Marketing Association recently named Harmeling winner of its 2023 Erin Anderson Award.

Two College of Business students saw to it last week that business schools throughout the country would take stock of Florida State University. Sophomore Mason Pullum and junior Cole Clemons, both finance majors, tied for first place with a team from Virginia's Washington and Lee University in the 9th annual Student Managed Investment Fund Stock Pitch competition at the University of Georgia's Terry School of Business.

Samantha Paustian-Underdahl seeks volunteers for a study she's embarking on with Shanna Daniels, a fellow faculty member in the Department of Management.