Learn more about recent honors, appointments, research publications and notable involvements at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business in this month's achievements column. This column features the achievements of the college's faculty, staff and students.

Honors and Awards

• The College of Business climbed five spots to No. 23 among public universities and No. 36 overall in the five-year Texas A&M University/University of Georgia ranking of U.S. business schools for management research productivity. The annual index evaluates institutions based on faculty publications in the field’s top eight academic journals. Read the story.
• The University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business named 1,323 students to its Dean’s List for the spring semester. They leveraged their strengths and dedicated themselves to academics to achieve the honor. Read the story.
• Abbey Schwarz, senior marketing major from Bennington, Nebraska, and Husker soccer player, received the Outstanding Scholar Award from Husker Athletics during the Night at the Lied awards ceremony this spring. The award is presented to individuals who will graduate with a 3.90 or higher cumulative GPA.
• Lance Schendt, audio-visual support associate in IT Services, received a Dean's Coin from Rik Barrera, associate dean of operations and chief of staff in the college, for going above and beyond for others. He was nominated by a business faculty member for acting as a "life-saver" with classroom technology on multiple occasions, going above and beyond to identify and fix any issues and enabling classes to run smoothly.

Research and Publications

• Robert Campbell, assistant professor of management, and Diego Villalpando, '25 Ph.D. graduate, recently published a paper in Journal of Management around the operational performance benefits of new CEOs beginning their tenures at the start of the calendar or fiscal years. This article was also highlighted by the Harvard Business Review. Read the research and the HBR article.
• Two business students received stipends to participate in 20 hours a week of research with a faculty mentor this summer as part of Nebraska's Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience Program: Eh Ta Taw, sophomore finance and global studies major from Lincoln, “Tracing the Legacy of Refugee Resettlement in Nebraska”; and Mason Chandler, junior economics major from Lincoln, “Analyzing the Quantitative Accuracy of Judgements of 1870 U.S. Census Concentric Circle Charts.” Read the Nebraska Today article.

Notable Involvement

• Andrew Hanna, assistant professor of management, was elected to serve a three-year term on the board of directors for the Southern Management Association, an affiliate of the Academy of Management whose mission is to advance the research, teaching, learning, and practice of management.
• Six business students were among those elected to the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN) student government at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May for the 2025-26 academic year. They included: Emily Frech, junior marketing and management major from Erie, Colorado, chief of staff; Eric Jacob, senior business and law and finance major from Parker, Colorado, senator; Leonardo Luna-Duran, freshman management major from Neligh, Nebraska, senator; Ashwin Mannur, senior economics and finance major from Roselle, Illinois, senator; Bella Ruda, sophomore agribusiness major from Ames, Nebraska, senator; and Alli Stiles, junior business and law major from Warrensburg, Missouri, senator.
• Three business students were among the ROTC members who received military commissions at commencement ceremonies in May: Air Force 2nd Lt. Ethan C. Forcade, management major from Omaha; Army 2nd Lt. Charlie Gale, agribusiness major from Blair, Nebraska; and Army 2nd Lt. Natalie E. Karrels, supply chain management major from Brookfield, Wisconsin.

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  Kadina Koonce, assistant director of career development and planning in the Business Career Center, presented two sessions at the National Career Development Association annual conference in Atlanta. One shared about AI bot building for student and staff engagement and the other addressed using a mock hiring committee structure to teach students resume, interview and online presence impact to better understand the hiring process.
• Matthew Pierson, associate director of Nebraska Council on Economic Education, presented about the Stock Market Game and economics and social issues at Nebraska's Career Education Conference in Kearney, Nebraska, in June.
• The Nebraska Center for Economic Education partnered with Family Service in Lincoln to present financial literacy lessons to more than 100 children during June in summer programs at Adams Elementary and Prescott Elementary Schools.

Competitions

• Members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln FBLA-Collegiate student organization won awards at the National Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas, in June. Winners placing in the top three included: first place in technology and computer science case competition and third place in future business facilitator category: Connor Nichols, senior computer science major from Raymond, Nebraska; third in hospitality management case competition: Trinity Black, sophomore communication studies major and business minor from Lincoln, and Bailey Taylor, sophomore Clifton Builders management major from Fremont, Nebraska.

In The News

• Jennifer Davidson, associate professor of practice in economics, Nebraska Council on Economic Education president and Nebraska Bankers Association Faculty Fellow, visited with 10/11 News in Lincoln to share the first steps of budgeting as part of the Map to Financial Freedom series. See the interview.

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  Student entrepreneurs Madison Kreifels, '25 agricultural and environmental sciences communication graduate and InfoFilm founder from Eagle, Nebraska, and Yamen Seanwan, '25 business administration grad and Halal Meats supply chain business founder from Lincoln, found mentorship, networking and business support while still in college through the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship Accelerator program. Read the Lincoln Journal Star story or Nebraska Today story about their journeys.
• Eric Thompson, K.H. Nelson College Professor of Economics and director of Bureau of Business Research, and Aaron Morrisey, junior data science and economics major and BBR Scholar from Omaha, spoke about the money behind defense technology on the Grow Lincoln radio show May 10. Morrisey spoke about his research project on factors affecting the distribution of defense technology contracts in the U.S. and policy recommendations. Listen to the podcast.
• Thompson also spoke on the Grow Lincoln radio show about the Bureau of Business Research's new labor survey, which gathered input from Nebraska business owners regarding the current workforce and hiring new workers. Listen to the podcast.
• Mitch Herian, project director of the Bureau of Business Research, spoke about the billion-dollar tech industry in Nebraska, related workforce and their economic impact on the Grow Lincoln Radio show on June 21. Listen to the podcast.