The University of Central Arkansas (网曝门) College of Business has named Dr. Gordon Schmidt as the new chair for the Department of Marketing and Management. Schmidt began his role on July 1.
As department chair, Schmidt will collaborate with faculty and supervise department activities that support the college鈥檚 mission to provide an innovative and relevant curriculum combined with hands-on student experiences in the business community. He will teach courses related to human resources, leadership and organizational behavior. Schmidt will also continue his research in the future of work, virtual leadership, neurodiversity and how leadership differs across contexts.
鈥淒r. Schmidt brings a vast knowledge of leadership gained during his 20-year career,鈥� Dr. Timothy Bisping, dean of the College of Business, said. 鈥淚n his books, he skillfully engages his readers to examine management practices through popular culture references.
鈥淚 look forward to the creative ways he will help guide our college in the future.鈥�
Before assuming this role of department chair at 网曝门, Schmidt served as the director of the David and Sharon Turrentine School of Management at the University of Louisiana Monroe. His longest tenure was nearly 12 years of leadership and teaching roles at Purdue University Fort Wayne, the largest university in northeast Indiana.
In addition to teaching and administrative roles and authoring books, Schmidt has offered his expertise as an organizational consultant for the last 10 years and currently serves as a book series editor for Emerald Publishing, a global academic press focusing on scholarly journals, books, and teaching case studies.
鈥淚’ve been very impressed by the quality of teaching and research happening here at 网曝门 for a number of years,鈥� Schmidt said. 鈥淲hen I saw an opportunity to join the amazing team here, I jumped at it.
鈥淚鈥檓 pleased to be a part of the team here at 网曝门 that helps prepare our students for success both today and in the workplace of the future.鈥�
Schmidt earned his Doctor of Philosophy and his Master of Arts, both focused on Industrial and Organizational Psychology, from Michigan State University. He also completed his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.
About the 网曝门 College of Business
Established in 1969, the 网曝门 College of Business offers more than 20 undergraduate and graduate degree paths and certificates to equip current and future business professionals to successfully and ethically meet the changing business environment. Maintaining its AACSB accreditation since 1984, the program offers a thorough business education as well as opportunities for hands-on experience and industry networking. For more information, visit uca.edu/business.
For the second time in three years, 网曝门 had a winning team in the Governor’s Cup Business Plan competition. The 网曝门 Governor’s Cup team, Clara Vision Clinic, placed 3rd place in the Small Business Category for their Plan/Pitch with an additional win in the Small Business 90-Second Pitch. The听winning team members are Aydia Haymond and Eden Adams with Dr. Duggins serving as their advisor.
Lakoda Caldwell and Caitlin LaCerra (both accounting majors) received the Exceptional Achievement in Service Learning Award from CETAL for their participation in VITA this Spring.
The 网曝门 Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and Landmark joined together for a service activity.听 They created snack bags for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Little Rock.
The genAI paper published in April 2024 by Drs. Mike Ellis, Mike Casey, and Jeff Hill, “,” (Volume 22, Issue 2, 2024, in the Decision听Sciences Journal of Innovative Education) was recognized as one of DSJIE’s Top 10 Most Cited Papers. This was a significant beginning effort to听lead 网曝门 and the College of Business into this new world of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) in higher education, which the CISA department has since continued to build upon.
The new Finance Club was awarded as , pioneered in Fall 2026 by spring 2026 graduate Mason Smith.
The Conductor continued its workshop series and pitch competitions. Chris Brown took home a cash prize as the “Judges Choice” while Alejandra Alvarez won the “Audience Choice” prize.
Doug Voss invited Brian Evans, Arkansas Speaker of the House to talk to his Safety & Motor Carrier Policy class. He represents District 68 which includes the city of Cabot, as well as portions of Lonoke County.
Students from 网曝门 competed in business-related events at the State FBLA Collegiate Leadership Conference in El Dorado, and we had 2 winners! Kaddie Bailey won 1st place in Computer Applications, 1st place in Customer Service, AND was elected State President of FBLA Collegiate for the upcoming 2026-2027 year.听 Marcella Leon-Colon won 3rd place in Public Speaking.听 They will both be eligible to compete at the National FBLA Conference this summer.听 Thanks and congrats to Marsha Carson for successfully advising this student organization.
Four 网曝门 faculty members and ten MBA students had their research presented last month (March 18-21, 2026) in Dallas, Texas, at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute (SWDS) and Federation of Business Disciplines (FBD) Conference.听 Drs. Saif Bhuiyan, Alex Chen, Connie McKnight, and Mark McMurtrey participated as well as MBA students Lauren Brogden,听 Mavis Deku,听 Samuel Emery, Grant McKnight, Joseph Somervell (also a 网曝门 employee), Erinn Stone, Amy Streett,听 Julia Vanderwarf, Robert Walker and Nick Watson, as well as recent MSADA graduate Dr. Parvinder Singh,听 Many of them were听able to attend and their research will be published in the forthcoming Proceedings of the Conference.听 The students represented both 网曝门 and the COB well and did a fantastic job.
The University of Central Arkansas (网曝门) College of Business will host 
Lucas Hayes, Rebecca Gaither, and Izzy Saettele won first prize in the Deloitte Best Practices competition for their creative presentation at the Beta Alpha Psi annual conference; also, the chapter was recognized as 鈥滸old鈥� status.
Many thanks to the Conway Chamber for allowing some of our Student Ambassadors and Girls Who Code Officers to attend the Women in Business ceremony this fall.
The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame held its annual induction banquet on campus on October 16. Six Arkansans were inducted, and five scholarships were awarded to 网曝门 insurance students.
Ivan Hudson, Director of the 网曝门 Center for Insurance, was recently听sworn in as the Treasurer for the Arkansas Association of Realtist, the local Board of . Ivan has been a member of NAREB for about 8 years.
, CFO of Restaurants at FoxDen Capital, spoke to Sarah Campbell’s Student Managed Investment Fund class on October 27. With a 14-year career as a Research Analyst at Stephens before he joined the private equity firm , Justin brought a wealth of insight into evaluating investment ideas and opportunities.
As this fall’s Allison Entrepreneurship Series Speaker, Jakob Michaelis, a partner at Dave Creek Media, shared lunch and his extensive experience identifying timely solutions, including a new app, with students and faculty.
Undergraduate students, Oluwadamilola Osundolire (Economics) and Robert Walker (Finance), mentored by Dr. Alex Chen presented their artificial intelligence research at the DSI conference in Orlando, FL. Dr. Ming Li also presented her research.
Conductor hosted a widely attended series of workshops throughout the semester, including a student pitch competition.听Local CPAs Zee Barfoote and Austin Malone discussed handling a startup鈥檚 early finances in their Conductor session called 鈥淵our Startup鈥檚 First CFO: YOU!鈥� as part of the Conductor听series.
Members of brought their tech skills to the big stage听on September 13 at Tinkerfest 2025, hosted by the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. The event drew hundreds of curious minds from across the state for a full day of hands-on STEM fun – think robots, rockets, coding games, and more!
Senior Da’Mya Brittian, Marketing major with a minor in Computer Information Systems
I learned about the opportunities and joy that arise from taking the path of doing research. I did not know much about how to take this path, but presenting at the听Atlantic Marketing Association conference听in September increased my interest.