Ethics. Inclusivity. Societal well-being. Maura Scott makes those concepts the focus of her award-winning research into, among other topics, ways in which organizations can simultaneously increase profits and make life better for their customers, particularly those from vulnerable populations. Scott, the Persis E. Rockwood Professor of Marketing in the College of Business, says her approach reflects her vision of using "rigorous, inclusive scholarly research to help improve consumers' financial and health decision-making and well-being, and to underscore the role firms can play in advancing the greater good."

Soaring inflation and its threat to the U.S. economy gave the Federal Reserve no choice but to raise interest rates this week and to signal further increases in the coming months, said William Christiansen, longtime chair of the finance department in Florida State University's College of Business. "There's pretty much unanimous agreement that they have to raise rates," said Christiansen, referring to the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC. "Rates are at historic lows, and they've been that low for a long time. Now inflation is very high, and the Fed has to respond."

On a night of celebration, Dr. William T. Hold paused in reflection. It's amazing to me," Hold, co-founder, executive chairman and retired president of The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research, said to professional and academic associates in the Grand Ballroom of the FSU Alumni Center. I sit and wonder, 'How did this ever happen?'"

For a barometer on a college or university's performance, don't forget employers. Allen Blay certainly doesn't. "The employers who hire our students consider FSU one of their favorite places to recruit because our students outperform when they get into the field," says Blay, the EY Professor and chair of the Department of Accounting. "Our students outperform our competitor universities, because they're well trained, and they've got a fire lit under them."

The robber said he had a gun, and 17-year-old bank teller Miles Romney wasn't about to question him. Romney merely did what his employer had instructed him to do in such cases – follow orders. In this case, that meant: (1) start handing over $100 bills and (2) don't press the alarm -- or he'd get shot. "I got robbed at gunpoint," Romney reflects about 25 years later. "That's why I dance." Leave it to Romney to turn any moment, even a serious one, into a punchline. 

Bruce Lamont's office features cleared shelves and dozens of packed boxes. But he isn't going anywhere. He's sending his academic journals on a benevolent 8,000-mile journey to a new home. Lamont, chair of the College of Business' Department of Management and the director of research at the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, is donating his four-decades-long collection of journals to Addis Ababa University's College of Business and Economics, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

About their first encounter 32 years ago, Ken and Deb Armstrong hold nothing back. "We met in a bar," he says with a smile. "Literally," she says with a laugh.

Little did they know that decades later they'd teach together in Florida State University’s College of Business. We thought we'd share their story, just in time for Valentine's Day.

The Armstrongs have been working together at the college for almost five years and at the university for about 12 years, making them a symbol of teamwork, excellence, stability and – you bet – love.

Officials in the College of Business see lofty rankings as a guidepost.

Better yet, a lighthouse.

"It's a signal to us that we're on the right track," said Ashley Bush, chair of the Department of Business Analytics, Information Systems and Supply Chain, or BAISSC. "It's a signal to students that there's value in the degree, and it's a signal to potential employers that we have a high-quality program."

Charles Hardwick told a lecture hall full of students last month that decades from now they'll look back – just as he has done with gratitude and magnitude – on their time at Florida State University and the College of Business. "Who is it you are going to remember?" he asked them. They'll likely remember their best professors, he said. If they're like him, they'll want to thank them, along with the college and university. And he's doing so generously.

Having built a rock-solid private equity firm, Peter Collins knows a little something about earth science – which he likens to raising money for a private equity fund. "Fundraising is like geology," he said. "It's all about time and pressure. It's cold calling. It's going and seeing people. It's about determination, and that's really, at the end of the day, what you get paid for."