Education

B2B Stories

Helping entrepreneurs while checking off your Christmas List

There is a special retail event tomorrow at Augusta University (AU) on a campus more commonly associated with cybersecurity. The Holiday Maker’s market is on Friday from 11 AM to 3:30 PM at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center (GCITC) on Grace Hopper Lane. Tina Baggott, AU’s interim executive vice president for Strategic Partnerships and Economic Development, told ABD the market has two goals. First, to offer early Christmas shopping with unique items created by students and faculty. The second purpose is to foster entrepreneurship, particularly among student vendors.

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B2B Stories

How travel internationally is helping Augusta Business

Dr. Mark Thompson, a faculty member at AU’s Hull College of Business, helped to oversee the 2026 travel itinerary for students out of the country. He explains where they are heading and what they may learn. “Augusta University has a variety of study abroad trips this next academic year, but the Hull College of Business has two trips planned in the spring term. One is for more senior-oriented business majors, where they’re interested in international business or entrepreneurship, and that trip is actually going to Italy. The second trip we

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B2B Stories

Business students study abroad

Dr. Mark Thompson and AU announced this week that he is transitioning into more of a full-time professor role, as Dr. Peter Basciano will serve as interim Dean at Hull. A few months back, Dr. Thompson shared this short video on how AU and Hull students are learning how other cultures do business outside of Augusta.

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B2B Stories

Deadline nearing for Meta’s community grants

Aiken County is one of more than 20 U.S. locations eligible to apply for a community action grant from Meta. That is because the county will be home to one of the technology giant’s data centers. The grants provide funding for public schools, as well as nonprofit and community organizations. Laura Warren, Meta’s Community Development Regional Manager, told ABD the grants are just for schools and organizations in Aiken County that meet the criteria. “We’re a global company, but we operate hyper locally. We really like to support those communities

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B2B Stories

Dr. Thompson transcript: MBA Tours

In today’s edition of Dr. Thompson’s transcripts, he discussed a number of ways MBA tours are conducted on and off-campus. “If they’re interested in the MBA, we host a series of MBA information sessions that are done online. It’s an opportunity to connect with our MBA program director. Usually, we also have an MBA student that is part of that meeting. And so, you know, if you’re a prospective student and you’re thinking about the MBA, that’s a great first step. We always welcome you if you want a tour

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B2B Stories

Video: What’s an MBA tour like

Growing within your company in the CSRA may mean going back to school to learn a new skill set. Dr. Mark Thompson walks you through taking a tour with the end goal of getting an MBA degree. Hull College Tours:

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B2B Stories

Insights from the next leader at Augusta Tech

The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) has named Dr. Kendricks Hooker as the next president of Augusta Technical College. He is currently provost of Cabarrus College of Health Sciences in North Carolina. Hooker will take over as president of Augusta Tech on Jan. 2, 2026, succeeding Dr. Jermaine Whirl who accepted the position of president of Savannah State University. ABD had the opportunity to interview Hooker by phone and learn his plans for the college. Hooker believed he had the skill set TCSG was looking for based on the

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B2B Stories

Signing Day for Future Business Leaders

It’s a big deal when a high school athlete goes to signing day and announces his or her next step. The first-ever signing day for business is coming up. Dr. Mark Thompson explains in his own words. “You think about that high school student that signs their letter of intent to play some sport at some college, well, we want to do the same thing, but have the students basically sign that commitment of having completed an internship at some business. We also think that it’s an opportunity to bring

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B2B Stories

Hull Video: Sports-Like “Signing Day”

In some ways, sports is a lot like business, where teams compete on a daily basis to succeed. The Hull College of Business is about to implement a tried-and-true tradition in sports—to the business school. Dr. Mark Thompson explains in this video.

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B2B Stories

First-of-its-kind business competition

This Friday, AU’s Hull College of Business is challenging future business leaders with a first-of-its-kind competition. The Dean of the School explains how it works. “So, this year, we are piloting a high school competition slash conference event, and we are piloting it with Columbia County high schools. We wanted to start small, and they’ve been talking with us about how we can create these competitive-type events around business cases. One of the things that we wanted to do is, with it being limited to just the Columbia County High

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