The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) 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’s 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.
“Dr. Schmidt brings a vast knowledge of leadership gained during his 20-year career,” Dr. Timothy Bisping, dean of the College of Business, said. “In his books, he skillfully engages his readers to examine management practices through popular culture references.
“I look forward to the creative ways he will help guide our college in the future.”
Before assuming this role of department chair at UCA, 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.
“I’ve been very impressed by the quality of teaching and research happening here at UCA for a number of years,” Schmidt said. “When I saw an opportunity to join the amazing team here, I jumped at it.
“I’m pleased to be a part of the team here at UCA that helps prepare our students for success both today and in the workplace of the future.”
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 UCA College of Business
Established in 1969, the UCA 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, UCA had a winning team in the Governor’s Cup Business Plan competition. The UCA 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 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 UCA Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and Landmark joined together for a service activity. 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, “
The new Finance Club was awarded as 
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 UCA 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. Marcella Leon-Colon won 3rd place in Public Speaking. They will both be eligible to compete at the National FBLA Conference this summer. Thanks and congrats to Marsha Carson for successfully advising this student organization.
Four UCA 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. Drs. Saif Bhuiyan, Alex Chen, Connie McKnight, and Mark McMurtrey participated as well as MBA students Lauren Brogden, Mavis Deku, Samuel Emery, Grant McKnight, Joseph Somervell (also a UCA employee), Erinn Stone, Amy Streett, Julia Vanderwarf, Robert Walker and Nick Watson, as well as recent MSADA graduate Dr. Parvinder Singh, Many of them were able to attend and their research will be published in the forthcoming Proceedings of the Conference. The students represented both UCA and the COB well and did a fantastic job.
The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) 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 ”Gold” 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 UCA insurance students.
Ivan Hudson, Director of the UCA Center for Insurance, was recently sworn in as the Treasurer for the Arkansas Association of Realtist, the local Board of 
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. Local CPAs Zee Barfoote and Austin Malone discussed handling a startup’s early finances in their Conductor session called “Your Startup’s First CFO: YOU!” as part of the Conductor series.
Members of 
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 Atlantic Marketing Association conference in September increased my interest.