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MBA Professors
A Quick Study of Successful Business Models
Research Driven
Professor Yuliya Yurova | NSU
Yuliya Yurova’s work in the MBA business intelligence and analytics concentration brings together the business school and the College of Engineering and Computing.
As a child in her native Russia, Yuliya Yurova was a self-described “nerd” — a math whiz who came from a family of teachers and medical doctors. “It’s probably in the genes,” she says.
She earned a bachelor’s in mathematical economics from Novosibirsk State University in Russia, then studied economics with the Russian Academy of Sciences. Times weren’t kind to economists then. “During perestroika, they said ‘we don’t need economics,’ ” she recalls. So Yurova took a job with USAID’s Russia Far East Office and set her sights on continuing her education.
Yurova came to the U.S. to earn her master’s in computer information systems from Eastern Michigan University. As part of her capstone project, Yurova worked with a local company to design an IT solution for quality assurance. “They actually used our code,” she enthuses.
“These were real companies and unbelievable experiences.”
Yurova decided to pursue her doctorate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She then landed her first — and only job since — in 2009 with Nova Southeastern University. As an associate professor of decision sciences and research methods at the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Yurova’s work in the MBA business intelligence and analytics concentration is an area new to NSU and brings together the business school and the College of Engineering and Computing.
As in her own capstone project, students work with area companies — City Furniture, BioRasi and Citrix, among others — to create solutions to real-world problems like high employee turnover or fraud.
“I’m that nerd,” she says. “I’m passionate about research because the industry is changing so rapidly, and we have to keep up with it.”
An Eye on the Front Office
Professor Bill Sutton | USF
Many studentathletes attend college hoping to land a spot in the pros. Students in Bill Sutton’s sports and entertainment management program seek careers in the big leagues’ front offices. Like a coach whose players get drafted, Sutton’s proven successful at placing his MBA students into sports marketing and management jobs.
As founding director of the Vinik Sport & Entertainment Management Program at the USF Muma College of Business, Sutton tapped his ties across professional franchises, media groups and sports organizations to provide students with unique learning opportunities. In one program, the “Fox Sports University” created in partnership with the television network’s Florida division, students work in teams, competing to create promotional programs for professional sports teams — all on the path to earning a dual MBA and MS in sports marketing.
An Oklahoma State University graduate with bachelor’s, master’s and Ed.D. degrees, Sutton has taught at several universities, written hundreds of articles on sports marketing and management and was a marketing and operations executive with the NBA. His consulting firm has worked with the NFL and NBA, and the New York Mets, the Phoenix Suns, the Orlando Magic and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Recruited to return to USF to launch a program between USF and the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sutton saw an opportunity to create an immersive curriculum, “a real symbiotic relationship, like an internship squared.” Sutton has taken students to Los Angeles to network with executives from such organizations at Fox television, AEG, LA Live and Ticketmaster.
“What we’re trying to be is the nexus of academia and the sports world,” he says, “integrating experiential learning in the classroom.”
Global and Digital
Professor Eric P. Chiang | FAU
Eric P. Chiang travels the world studying economics in other countries. He puts together 8-minute videos that reveal “how economic decision-making is tailored to the circumstances facing each country.”
For Eric P. Chiang, the world literally is his course material. Each year since 2012, the associate professor and graduate director at Florida Atlantic University has traveled “around the world in 80 hours,” hitting up to six cities over three days and filming his thoughts on economics in the countries he visits.
When he returns, Chiang shares his 8-minute mini-documentaries with his undergrad and MBA students. The videos reveal “how economic decision-making is tailored to the circumstances facing each country,” he says.
When not traveling solo, Chiang also takes 30 students each year on a trip to examine how local businesses and multinational corporations operate throughout the Americas.
Chiang’s textbook, “Economics: Principles for a Changing World,” is in its fourth printed edition, but as FAU’s director of instructional Professor Eric P. Chiang FAU Global and Digital technology, he is an ardent proponent of online education as well. Chiang co-wrote the economics coursework for FlipIt, the online pre-lecture service used by 60 universities nationally. Two studies he authored examine how well students embrace online material and the impact of online learning on subsequent courses.
While online is growing, Chiang predicts classrooms will remain, but in different fashion, with fixed desks replaced by modular desks and furnishings to encourage more active learning. “Face to face,” he says, “is still the more effective model of learning.”
