Category: Awards and Honors

Impact Magazine Highlights College of Business Students, Faculty, and Alumni

The Michigan Tech Alumni Gateway Arch is lit on a cold winter night with a snowy campus in the background.
Michigan Tech’s College of Business celebrates student accomplishments, entrepreneurial spirit, and STEM-infused degree program innovations in the latest issue of Impact Magazine. 

Online and on kitchen tables, the new issue of Impact Magazine is ready to read wherever you are. Get the latest news from Michigan Tech’s College of Business (COB), including student accomplishments, research that helps communities steer toward a brighter economic future, and real-life advice from dynamic entrepreneurs and alumni.

Dean Johnson, dean of the College, said Impact’s theme this year highlights the Michigan Tech difference. “College of Business students study more than business,” he said. “Science, technology, engineering, and math are infused into COB courses and programs. Classes connect disciplines. Degree programs cross borders.”

Read all about it in the online version of the 2024 Impact Magazine. Your comments on the current issue and suggestions for stories in future issues are welcome. Email them to Cyndi Perkins, managing editor, at cmperkin@mtu.edu.


About the College of Business

The Michigan Tech College of Business prepares tomorrow’s business professionals through STEM-infused, AACSB-accredited degree programs and minors. The college offers nine bachelor of science programs in accounting, business analytics, construction management, economics, engineering management, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing; and four master of science programs in accounting and analytics, applied natural resource economics, engineering management, and the TechMBA®.

Questions? Contact us at business@mtu.edu. Follow the College of Business on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Elham Asgari and Co-Authors Win Tariq Farid Franchise Institute Award for Best Paper

Elham Asgari, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship in the College of Business, and co-authors Richard A. Hunt and S. M. Abidul Islam were awarded the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute Award for Best Paper on the Topic of Franchising at the 2024 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC). The award will be presented at the 2025 BCERC Conference, June 4-7 at Babson College.

The award-winning paper is titled, “Franchising in the Metaverse: Entrepreneurial Pathways for Virtual and Mixed Reality.” An abstract of the paper is below.

Asgari’s research interests include corporate entrepreneurship, technological innovations, star employees, and the small satellite industry. She is a Charles C. and John G. Gates Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Madison Mattila, BS in Accounting and MIS, Receives PCAOB Scholarship

Madison Mattila (left)

College of Business undergraduate Madison Mattila has been awarded a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholars Program scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year. The scholarship funds tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment.

Mattila has a double major in Management Information Systems and Accounting (with a concentration in Data Analytics). She is also pursuing a master of science in accounting and a certificate in accounting analytics. She expects to complete her bachelor’s degree in spring 2025, and her master’s degree in fall 2025.

The PCAOB Scholars Program seeks to benefit students who are likely to become auditors and to make a difference to students who might otherwise choose a different career path. Participating educational institutions nominate a scholarship recipient from among students enrolled in their accounting degree program.

Mattila was recognized as an outstanding student by the accounting faculty in spring 2024. Also in spring 2024, she received the 2024 Dean of Students Award for Possibilities.

Mattila is the president of Kappa Sigma Iota (KSI) Accounting Club, the College of Business representative and public relations chair for Undergraduate Student Government, and vice president of the Women’s Golf Club. She is also engaged in the Applied Portfolio Management Program and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Mattila also coaches girls’ soccer at Houghton High School and serves as a Big Sister for Big Brother Big Sisters of America.