Terry College of Business - Fall 2008 - (Page 11) quickbites Selig Center: UGA has $2.1B impact on Athens’ economy aCColaDes Feldman wins Best Paper Award at Academy of Management Daniel C. Feldman, along with his co-author, thomas ng, won the 2008 Best Paper award from the academy of management’s careers Division for their research paper, “How Broadly Does education influence job Performance?” this is the fourth time in 10 years that Feldman has won FELDMAN the award. the article will be published in Personnel Psychology. this year, more than 100 career-related manuscripts were submitted for Best Paper consideration. Feldman, who holds the Synovus chair of Servant leadership, is the college’s associate dean for research and international programs. ng (PhD ’06) is a professor at the University of Hong kong. U GA pumped at least $2.1 billion into the Athens-area economy in FY07, according to a study by Terry’s Selig Center for Economic Growth that measures the economic impact of the 35 institutions in the University System. According to the study, UGA spent nearly $572 million in salaries and $315 million in operating expenses during the fiscal year. UGA’s 33,405 students spent nearly $414 million, bringing the direct economic impact to $1.3 billion. For every dollar of initial spending, another 59 cents is generated for the local economy through subsequent spending, bringing UGA’s total impact on the Athens-area to $2.1 billion. “There’s a huge benefit that comes from UGA being in Athens — even for people who don’t work or study here,” says Jeff Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig Center. “There are actually more jobs that owe their existence to the university off-campus than on-campus.” UGA directly employed 8,700 people in FY07. Spending by the university and its faculty, staff, and students created an additional 10,200 jobs, bringing the total number of university-related jobs to nearly 19,000. Put another way, says Humphreys, each oncampus job created 1.2 jobs off-campus. The findings are part of a larger study that the Selig Center conducted for the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program. The study found that the 35 institutions of the University System had a direct impact of $11 billion on the state. UGA’s $2.1 billion economic impact accounts for 19 percent of that figure, making it the single largest contributor to the system’s statewide impact. The study underestimates the true extent of UGA’s economic impact, says Humphreys, because it doesn’t take into account spending by UGA retirees, consulting and investment income from UGA employees — and, most notably, spending by people who visit Athens because of the university. “Tens of thousands of visitors come to Athens every year because of the presence of the university,” says Humphreys. “They oF UGa PHOtOGraPHy UGA directly employed 8,700 people in FY07, and spending by the university and its faculty, staff, and students created an additional 10,200 jobs. come for meetings and conventions, to visit their sons and daughters, and to see sporting and cultural events.” The study also doesn’t take into account the impact of the creation of new businesses through UGA programs such as the Georgia BioBusiness Center, expertise offered through the Small Business Development Center, and the impact of volunteer and service-learning activities of students, faculty, and staff. “The main limitation of the study is what’s not included,” says Humphreys, “but we wanted to use data that all 35 institutions could provide so that we could get a true apples-to-apples comparison.” The Selig Center report comes on the heels of a May report by the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education that found that the Atlanta metro area (including Athens) led the nation in higher education enrollment growth. The study found that enrollment increased by 62 percent — from nearly 109,000 to 176,000 from 19892005, the last year for which figures are available. The Atlanta area was one of five metro areas with more than $1 billion in research expenditures. ■ — Sam Fahmy (BS ’97) To view the Selig Center report, go to: www.icapp.org/pubs/usg_impact_fy2007.pdf tull School of accounting Director Benjamin C. Ayers and two co-authors won the american tax association’s tax manuscript award for their research article on “capital Gains taxes and acquisition activity: evidence of the lock-in effect.” the award goes to the top tax manuscript AYERS published in the preceding three years. ayers’ paper appeared in the summer 2007 issue of Contemporary Accounting Research. He previously won the tax manuscript award in 2003. His co-authors on the capital gains paper were craig e. lefanowicz (University of virginia) and john r. robinson (University of texas). Research by Ben Ayers earns 2008 Tax Manuscript Award Professors in accounting, finance, and legal studies were honored with teaching awards from the graduating classes of terry’s three mBa programs. Linda S. Bamber, who holds the j.m. tull chair of accounting, was presented with the Hugh O. nourse Outstanding teacher award at the spring graduation ceremony for the full-time program. legal studies lecturer Charles A. Lankau III was named Outstanding instructor of the evening mBa program. James S. Linck, an associate professor of finance, was chosen as the Outstanding instructor of the executive mBa program for the second time. ■ MBA teaching award winners Terry College Business Fall 2008 • 11 http://www.icapp.org/pubs/usg_impact_fy2007.pdf
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