Florida State University brought together campus leaders Friday for a wide-ranging discussion on the future of Name, Image, and Likeness at the second annual FSU Future of NIL Summit held at the Herbert Wertheim College of Business.

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Moving quickly to implement a top strategic priority, the Herbert Wertheim College of Business at Florida State University has announced the official launch of its Business of Healthcare Initiative.

In alignment with FSU Health, the initiative applies the college’s world-class strengths in research, teaching and industry engagement to address the Florida healthcare sector’s complex operational challenges arising from an aging population, rising costs and escalating prevalence of long-term chronic conditions, among other factors.

Michael D. Hartline, dean of the college, emphasized the initiative’s three prongs, which he said aim to bolster healthcare knowledge, business partnerships and, importantly, student employment and success:

• Scholarly research, led by Patricia H. Born, Ph.D., the college’s new Herbert Wertheim Chair in Health Systems Operations.
• Industry engagement, led by Patricia Kenney, Doctor of Nursing Practice, the college’s new Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership.
• Industry programming, led by Caroline Poole, MPA, the college’s director of business development and strategic partnerships.

“The Herbert Wertheim College of Business is uniquely prepared to address the growing demands of healthcare, and these three individuals are exceptionally equipped to lead this pivotal initiative,” Hartline said. “We embrace this extraordinary opportunity to elevate our scholarly impact, strengthen our regional industry footprint and shape the future of healthcare in Northwest Florida and beyond.”

The Business of Healthcare Initiative continues the Wertheim College’s growing emphasis on including healthcare in its programming and curriculum. That includes the Business of Healthcare Summit, launched in 2024, and a recently launched Online Master of Business Administration with a Major in Healthcare Administration, plus several graduate specializations in healthcare.

The new initiative stems from a commitment by Dr. Herbert Wertheim, whose recent $65 million philanthropic investment named the college and the Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence and, among other things, earmarked endowed funds for the new faculty posts, including those of Born and Kenney. Dr. Wertheim, a billionaire optometrist, inventor, businessman, philanthropist and the founder and president of Brain Power Inc., said he made the extraordinary investment in part to advance innovation in healthcare.

“Dr. Wertheim’s vision is exactly what the healthcare industry and our communities need, and I think training FSU business students to fill the gaps in the healthcare business workforce is essential,” Kenney said.

“Dr. Wertheim’s vision is exactly what the healthcare industry and our communities need, and I think training FSU business students to fill the gaps in the healthcare business workforce is essential.” 

– Patricia Kenney, Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership.

Underscoring expertise from across the college, Born added that the initiative “gives us an opportunity to move beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, tackle some of the most consequential questions facing healthcare and generate research that can improve both the performance of the healthcare system and the lives of the people it serves.”

The project aligns with FSU Health, an integrated system that now includes Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and brings together hospitals, physicians, clinics, research, education and innovation to improve the health of the communities the university serves, including rural and other underserved areas. The university-wide effort comes amid healthcare workforce shortages, a rapidly aging population and proliferation of AI. The university’s initiative includes establishing an academic health system and, in partnership with TMH, constructing new facilities in Tallahassee and Panama City Beach.

Here are details on the three prongs of the initiative:

Scholarly research

This segment, led by Born, focuses on academic collaboration among the Wertheim College, other FSU colleges, and health-focused schools and colleges Dr. Wertheim has named in Florida and California.

Hartline emphasized Born’s background as “a high-impact” scholar whose “profound expertise in health economics and managed-care finance aligns with the chair’s mission to drive continuous improvement within healthcare systems.”

Born said the Wertheim College has identified about two dozen faculty members across all business disciplines who conduct empirical research, publish peer-reviewed studies or maintain advanced educational specializations in health or healthcare-related fields. She said she’s embarking on conversations with those faculty members about their plans for additional health-related research and “how they’d like to participate in this initiative.”

Born said the college’s research examines how business decisions, market forces, technology, regulation and organizational practices shape the cost, access, quality, sustainability and delivery of healthcare “while also addressing the financial and human challenges facing healthcare organizations and their workforces.”

She added: “I am excited to learn from one another, identify new opportunities for collaboration, and build on our collective strengths to realize our full potential.”

Industry engagement

This segment, led by Kenney, who has spent 12 years as executive director at TMH, builds connections with the regional healthcare industry and cultivates partnerships to support faculty research and secure sponsorships, grants and philanthropic investments. Also, it will establish career pathways for Wertheim College students, particularly those in its various graduate healthcare majors and specializations. This includes internships, project collaborations and job placements.

Hartline hailed Kenney, whose academic background includes an MBA in Healthcare Administration and a master’s degree in nursing/family nurse practitioner, for her “extensive blend of executive healthcare experience, academic engagement and specialized leadership training.”

At TMH, she has overseen the Office of Nursing Engagement and the Office of Patient Experience.

Kenney said she embraces her role as a “strategic liaison and regional healthcare representative” who will “help to identify, develop and coordinate any avenues that we can use for collaboration among the Wertheim College, FSU Health and other organizations to support the mission of the Business of Healthcare Initiative.”

Ultimately, she added, “we want to create mutually beneficial connections to serve and provide for the healthcare needs of our communities.”

Industry programming

This component, led by Poole, emphasizes industry conferences, forums and summits to build “a dynamic bridge,” as Hartline calls it, connecting the college to senior executives, policymakers, pioneering researchers and students.

Hartline credited Poole for her work to help elevate the annual Business of Healthcare Summit as “the marquee event to position the college as a premier intellectual hub and a catalyst for industry-wide solutions.”

Poole said she aims to establish additional events that attract physicians and other healthcare providers who increasingly seek to embrace the business side of the industry.

“It’s important for healthcare professionals to understand the operations and the pitfalls, including the organizational challenges, of running a healthcare institution and making everything run smoothly,” she said.

She noted that healthcare innovation stood as a focus of the recent Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Community Conference at Amelia Island, Florida. FSU Health served as the presenting sponsor.

Poole added, referring to Hartline’s emphasis on the Business of Healthcare Initiative: “I’m excited that the college has jumped in with both feet to lead this effort for the betterment of our faculty, staff, students and communities in North Florida and beyond.”

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Pellumb Reshidi, an assistant economics professor in Florida State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, has been named a Senior Fellow of Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute (AIEI), joining an international cohort of researchers studying how artificial intelligence is transforming firms and the future of work.

As part of the fellowship, Reshidi and collaborators Brian Jabarian of Carnegie Mellon University and Luca Henkel of Erasmus University Rotterdam received a Microsoft research grant to investigate the growing use of AI in hiring and recruitment. Their project focuses on agentic hiring, or the use of artificial intelligence to screen, interview and evaluate job candidates.

The research comes as organizations increasingly adopt AI tools in the workplace. While many companies have embraced the technology, questions remain about its effects on workers, employers and labor markets.

“Adoption has moved faster than the evidence, particularly on what happens when an entire industry takes up these systems rather than a single firm, and how the added competition affects firm and worker welfare,” Reshidi said. “Those effects need careful measurement, and we’re approaching them less as a question of AI substituting for people than as one about where the two together outperform either alone.”

Working with a major recruiting firm, the team has conducted a natural field experiment covering roughly 70,000 interviews, producing a dataset that tracks both recruiters and candidates from application through employment and beyond.

The evidence speaks to the interactions between human recruiters and AI systems, to how screening changes when applicants can choose between a human and an AI interviewer, and to how employers compete when they rely on similar AI screeners.

This is AIEI’s third cohort and the first to turn to firms themselves; the previous two examined how education systems prepare people for an AI-enabled economy.

The cohort’s findings will be collected in an edited volume scheduled for publication in January, with Reshidi’s team contributing a chapter and submitting its research to an open-access academic journal.

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The Florida State University College of Law welcomed its most academically accomplished entering class to date. The Class of 2029 arrives as FSU College of Law celebrates its 60th anniversary and sets a new law school record with a median LSAT score of 169. The 116-member class also enters with a median undergraduate GPA of 3.93.

“The academic strength of this incoming class reflects the remarkable momentum we are seeing at FSU Law,” said Erin O’Hara O’Connor, dean of the FSU College of Law. “These students had many options when choosing where to pursue their legal education, and we are thrilled they chose Florida State. We look forward to seeing what they contribute to our classrooms, our community and, ultimately, the legal profession.”

FSU Law received 3,265 applications, a 20% increase from the previous year, with only 13.7% of applicants admitted, making this one of the most selective entering classes in FSU Law history.

The record-setting class arrives as FSU Law continues to earn national recognition for its academic programs, student experience and value. In the 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings, FSU Law ranked No. 34 overall and No. 14 among public law schools. The Princeton Review also recognized FSU Law as the No. 1 Best Value Law School, No. 4 for Best Student Quality of Life and No. 6 for Best Professors.

“We are incredibly proud of the Class of 2029,” said Jessica Dworkin, dean of admissions at FSU Law. “Their academic credentials are exceptional, but that tells only part of their story. They bring experiences and perspectives from across the country and around the world, along with a genuine enthusiasm for becoming part of the FSU Law community. We are excited to watch them learn from one another and see the many ways they will contribute during their time here.”

“We are incredibly proud of the Class of 2029. Their academic credentials are exceptional, but that tells only part of their story. They bring experiences and perspectives from across the country and around the world, along with a genuine enthusiasm for becoming part of the FSU Law community. We are excited to watch them learn from one another and see the many ways they will contribute during their time here.”

– Jessica Dworkin, dean of admissions at FSU Law

The class represents 28 U.S. states and 11 international countries, with 28% of students from outside Florida. Eighty-eight percent are first-generation law school students. As travelers and global learners, they have collectively studied in or visited 91 countries.

Members of the Class of 2029 attended 37 different undergraduate institutions and pursued 35 different majors, including business administration, economics and legal studies. The cohort spans ages 20 to 39, encompassing recent graduates, mid-career professionals, parents, a veteran, former educators, software engineer, realtor, hairstylist, government employees, and even a professional dancer and choreographer.

Outside the classroom, members of the class bring an equally wide range of interests and experiences. Among their hobbies are jujitsu, skiing, volleyball, yoga, fencing, cheerleading, golf and participating in the FSU Circus, to name a few.

The Class of 2029 began orientation Aug. 17. Classes start Aug. 24.

For more information about FSU College of Law Admissions, visit the FSU Law admissions website.

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Florida State University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Clark has appointed Mike Brady interim dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, effective immediately.

Brady, who currently serves as assistant provost, the Bob Sasser Professor of Marketing in the Herbert Wertheim College of Business, and FSU’s faculty athletics representative, succeeds founding Dean Susan Fiorito, who has returned to the faculty.

“Dr. Brady is a proven administrator, an internationally recognized scholar and a committed member of the Florida State community,” Clark said. “His experience in academic leadership, along with his commitment to students and research, positions him well to lead the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship during this transition.”

“Dr. Brady is a proven administrator, an internationally recognized scholar and a committed member of the Florida State community. His experience in academic leadership, along with his commitment to students and research, positions him well to lead the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship during this transition.”

– Jim Clark, Florida State University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

A two-time FSU alumnus, Brady earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1991 and his Ph.D. in 1997. His research focuses on customer satisfaction, employee interactions and service marketing and has earned more than 38,000 academic citations. He has held leadership roles with the American Marketing Association, including vice president of publications and board chair, and served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Service Research.

Brady has been recognized for teaching and mentorship at FSU, including the University Graduate Student Mentoring Award and the William R. Jones Award for Mentoring Minority Doctoral Students. A former FSU baseball player, he also spent several years playing professionally in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.

Fiorito led the unit from its start as the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship in 2016 through its designation as the nation’s first stand-alone College of Entrepreneurship in 2019.

During her tenure, Fiorito expanded entrepreneurship education at Florida State, supported interdisciplinary programs and helped build spaces for student creators and business founders.

“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to founding Dean Susan Fiorito,” Clark said. “Her vision and leadership helped establish the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship and created a strong foundation for the college’s future.”

Brady expressed gratitude for the opportunity to guide the college forward.

“It is an honor to serve as interim dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship,” Brady said. “Dean Fiorito has built a strong college with dedicated faculty, staff and students. I look forward to working with them to continue advancing entrepreneurship at FSU.”

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The Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO) has bolstered its relationship with Florida State University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Business through a major philanthropic investment that reaffirms its commitment to the college’s risk management and insurance program and its students.

FSLSO, a Tallahassee-based not-for-profit organization that monitors, educates and supports Florida’s surplus lines insurance market, recently gave $1 million to establish the Florida Surplus Lines Insurance Directorship in the Wertheim College’s Risk Management and Insurance Center. Charles “Chuck” Nyce, a globally renowned researcher and expert in catastrophic risk financing, assumes the distinction of the center’s first Florida Surplus Lines Insurance Director.

Mark Shealy, FSLSO’s CEO and executive director, said the endowed fund aims to support the center’s advancement of the risk management industry, especially initiatives related to surplus lines, a type of specialized insurance coverage that has experienced massive growth in recent years. It also underscores the organization’s steadfast support of FSU’s students, particularly those in its nationally ranked undergraduate and graduate RMI programs.

FSLSO hires three to five FSU students as interns every fall and spring semester.

“FSLSO’s investment in Florida State University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Business is rooted in our commitment to helping build the next generation of surplus lines insurance professionals,” said Shealy, a Wertheim College alumnus. “By investing in FSU’s RMI students, we are investing in the future capacity, innovation and resilience of the insurance industry.”

Michael D. Hartline, dean of the Wertheim College, emphasized FSLSO’s record of support. In addition to helping students launch careers through internships, the organization remains a regular sponsor and partner in events such as FSU’s Insurance Days, a twice-yearly job fair for RMI students. In 2024, FSLSO collaborated with the Florida Surplus Lines Association to establish, through a gift, the Florida Surplus Lines Speaker Series, a biannual Wertheim College event that addresses regulatory issues, new product development and changing market conditions in the surplus lines market.

The organization also partners with FSU’s Risk Management and Insurance Center on research and funds student trips to London and other markets where they learn about “the global nature of risk,” as Shealy calls it.

“Mark Shealy and the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office continue to demonstrate their extraordinary commitment to our college and students,” Hartline said. “This new investment further solidifies their standing as champions of our world-class programs and research and especially our students, who consistently flourish as the global business leaders of today and tomorrow.”

The investment makes the Risk Management and Insurance Center the third of the Wertheim College’s seven centers and institutes to feature a named directorship. The college’s Real Estate Center and Organizational Effectiveness Institute have named directors, as does its Business Career Services unit.

Nyce, who joined the Wertheim College faculty in 2009, began leading the RMI center last summer after serving almost three years as chair of the Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Legal Studies. The department includes the No. 2-ranked Dr. William T. Hold/The Alliance’s Program in Risk Management and Insurance.

“It’s a great honor to be the first Florida Surplus Lines Insurance Director,” Nyce said, calling Shealy and FSLSO “terrific stalwarts” of the RMI program and noting a substantial growth in the program’s relationship with the organization since Shealy became executive director in 2023.

Nyce added: “These types of investments fortify the future of our program. They ensure that this leadership position will remain solid for future generations of FSU RMI students and industry leaders.”

Shealy said Nyce, an expert on the effects of natural disasters on homeowners’ insurance markets and one of FSU’s most widely quoted faculty members among global news organizations, has played an instrumental role in preparing “the next generation of insurance professionals.”

“He understands the importance of connecting students not only with the academic foundation they need, but also with real-world industry exposure, mentorship and career pathways,” Shealy said. “That kind of leadership is critical at a time when our ‘excess and surplus’ industry needs strong, knowledgeable professionals who are ready to meet increasingly complex risks.”

‘A vital relief valve’

The surplus lines market, also known as the excess and surplus, or E&S, market, provides coverage for unique or complex risks that the traditional market often doesn’t insure.

Brad Karl, the Wertheim College’s Dr. William T. Hold Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and chair of the Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Legal Studies, defines surplus lines as a market for “non-standard” risks that may fall outside the standard market’s guidelines or capacity.

In a recent panel conversation titled “Understanding Surplus Lines: A Primer for State Legislators,” produced by the Institutes Griffiths Foundation, Karl called the surplus lines market “a vital relief valve in that it is able to service and provide protection and insurance for risks that sometimes the standard market can’t pick up.”

Examples of these risks include liability for AI, autonomous vehicles and social media influencers, he said.

Karl hails Shealy and the FSLSO for their “terrific partnership” with the Wertheim College and the “insight and connections they provide our students on the E&S markets and the insurance industry in general.”

Karl said FSLSO’s latest investment will, through Nyce and the RMI center, “have a lasting impact on student development and on the pipeline of talent entering our industry.”

‘A fantastic career path’

Shealy, who joined Karl on the “Understanding Surplus Lines” panel, said FSLSO works with Florida regulatory bodies and broker associations on policy and compliance. The organization, created by the Florida Legislature in 1997, offers industry support, including education and advice for Florida residents, industry members and government agencies.

FSLSO also promotes the industry in general and as “a fantastic career path for our students,” Nyce said.

That includes internships at FSLSO, which employs about 45 people and has ranked in the Top 10 among small companies for three straight years in Florida Trend’s Best Companies to Work For in Florida. The organization earned the No. 1 spot among small businesses in 2024.

“We have been fortunate to hire, mentor and work alongside FSU students, and we have seen firsthand the value they bring,” Shealy said. Through the surplus lines market, he said, the organization aims to help students “see the meaningful career opportunities available in our industry and encourage more of them to build their futures here in Florida.”

Shealy graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1991, then embarked on a career in the insurance industry, starting as a financial administrator in the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. He gives back to the Wertheim College as a frequent speaker and as a member of the RMI Executive Council, an advisory board of industry professionals who advocate for the FSU RMI program.

He said FSLSO’s growing partnership with the Wertheim College helps him focus on three things that matter to him: his connection to FSU, his commitment to the E&S industry and FSLSO’s role in serving Florida.

“The ability to work with my alma mater and help grow talented students in Florida, for the benefit of our industry and our state, is a true passion point,” he said.

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A Florida State University Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship professor has earned a prestigious global education award honoring individuals setting new standards in their field.

Juliana Binhote, the Jim Moran Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, accepted the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Global Award in Entrepreneurship Educator Excellence at the 71st ICSB World Congress Awards Gala in Washington D.C. The honor celebrates visionary educators and programs redefining entrepreneurship education through creativity, innovation and measurable impact.

“This award means so much because it reflects a partnership, not just a program,” Binhote said. “What started as a collaboration between Florida State University and the Armenian State University of Economics has grown into something I am incredibly proud of, and being recognized by the ICSB alongside our Armenian partner was incredible.”

The award recognizes Binhote’s leadership in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project connecting FSU students with peers at the Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE), the second-largest university in Armenia. Through Binhote’s LDR 2325: Leadership & Empowerment course, students from both institutions participated in shared coursework, virtual collaboration and design-thinking-based projects that build cross-cultural understanding and entrepreneurial problem-solving skills.

Binhote’s course is a byproduct of the partnership between FSU and ASUE. The collaboration, funded by a U.S. Department of State grant awarded to FSU’s Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship and Learning Systems Institute (LSI), aims to foster innovation and global connections through STEM and social entrepreneurship initiatives.

Each group of students worked in cross-cultural teams addressing real-world societal challenges through entrepreneurship, design thinking and the United Nations sustainable development goals. The students learned entrepreneurship not just by studying it, but by practicing it together, building communication, technology, time management and negotiation skills along the way.

The awards gala, held on July 1, was part of the ICSB World Congress — an annual conference uniting global leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers and researchers to advance the role of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in driving economic growth, sustainability and innovation. During her trip, Binhote also gave testimony at the U.S. Congress. She expressed her three pillars for guiding the future of family business policy and research: legacy, connection and continuity.

“Giving testimony before the U.S. Congress was one of the most meaningful moments of my career,” Binhote added. “I had the opportunity to speak directly to the importance of family business for the future of entrepreneurship and the economy. It was a powerful reminder of how essential it is to connect research, policy and practice, and I felt the weight and privilege of representing that connection in that room.”

“Giving testimony before the U.S. Congress was one of the most meaningful moments of my career. I had the opportunity to speak directly to the importance of family business for the future of entrepreneurship and the economy.” 

– Juliana Binhote, Jim Moran Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship

Binhote has taught courses in Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation, and Management and Organizational Behavior in the United States, as well as International Business, Negotiation, Family Business, Leadership, Go-To-Market Strategies and Family Law at both undergraduate and graduate levels in Brazil. She emphasizes real-world applications and experiential learning.

The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship is the nation’s first standalone college of entrepreneurship. The college aims to spread entrepreneurship across FSU’s campus and serve all students through collaborative programs, competitions, resources, and more. JMC offers students three undergraduate majors, five graduate majors, 10 minors and extracurricular opportunities to inspire innovation, instill compassion and ignite an entrepreneurial mindset in the next generation of leaders.

For more information on the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, visit its website.

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Florida State University’s Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship (JMI) celebrated the successful completion of its 2026 Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans and Families (EBV-F), held June 8-12 in Tallahassee.

The intensive five-day program brought together veterans, military spouses and family members from across the region to explore entrepreneurship as a pathway to business ownership and economic opportunity. Through hands-on workshops, mentorship and networking opportunities, participants gained practical tools and insights to help launch or grow successful ventures.

The EBV-F program is designed to empower veterans and their families by providing entrepreneurial education, business training and access to a network of experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders and community partners. Participants engaged in sessions focused on business planning, marketing, financial management, leadership and strategic growth.

“Entrepreneurship is more than starting a business — it’s about creating opportunities, building communities and empowering individuals to recognize their own potential,” said Melissa Roberts, Director of Veterans Programs at the Jim Moran Institute. “It’s a privilege to support this year’s remarkable cohort of veteran spouses, caregivers and family members as they leverage their unique experiences, resilience and dedication to build businesses that drive meaningful change.”

Throughout the week, participants worked alongside fellow aspiring entrepreneurs while learning from faculty, business experts and successful entrepreneurs. The program emphasized collaboration, innovation and the unique strengths veterans and military families bring to the business community.

Since its inception, the EBV-F program has helped veterans and military families develop the knowledge, confidence and connections needed to pursue entrepreneurial success. Graduates join a growing network of alumni who continue to support one another as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of business ownership.

For more information about the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans and Families and other Jim Moran Institute programs, visit the Jim Moran Institute website.

About the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, housed in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University, cultivates, trains and inspires entrepreneurial leaders through world-class executive education, applied training, public recognition and leading-edge research. The Jim Moran Institute comprises a dedicated team of entrepreneurship professionals, academic scholars and staff who foster the entrepreneurial spirit by helping to organize, expand and promote the knowledge and practice of entrepreneurship to facilitate new business and further the goals of established businesses.

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A career dedicated to translating research into policy and practice has earned Thomas G. Blomberg, dean of Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the 2026 August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology (ASC).

Widely regarded as one of the field’s highest honors, the award recognizes an individual whose “scholarship and professional work have made outstanding contributions to justice and the treatment or prevention of criminal or delinquent behavior.”

Blomberg, the Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology, earned three degrees from UC Berkeley, including a doctorate in criminology. He became dean in 2003 and helped elevate the college into the world’s top-ranked criminology program.

Bringing research to life

In his work as a researcher, Blomberg pursued a goal as simple as it was ambitious: reducing the pain and suffering caused by crime by ensuring research informed policy and practice.

One of the clearest examples of that philosophy was the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program (JJEEP), which Blomberg helped develop to improve educational outcomes for justice-involved youth.

Associate Professor George Pesta, director of the College’s Center for Criminology and Public Policy Research, called JJEEP one of Blomberg’s most impactful projects.

“His research conceptualization and implementation of JJEEP was truly translational and, for those involved, transformative,” Pesta said. “He embedded researchers in a statewide accountability system for the education of incarcerated youth where we worked with state agencies, local school districts, and private providers of juvenile justice services.”

From 1998 to 2010, JJEEP developed, implemented and maintained a research-driven system that guided policy and improved educational program performance for thousands of Florida delinquent and at-risk youths. At its peak, there were more than 200 juvenile justice education programs in Florida serving 30,000 youths each year.

“Through JJEEP, Tom influenced state policy, helped enshrine research into state statute, improved services for incarcerated youth and, most importantly, he made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of youths in Florida and the country,” Pesta said. “For me, and many others, JJEEP fundamentally shaped our career trajectories. It trained us in how to participate in translational research and use it to improve lives. The lessons I learned at JJEEP guide me today. Without it, I would not have spent a career in research.”

Citing his unparalleled and “outstanding contributions to justice and to the treatment and prevention of crime,” the three authors of his nominating letter noted Blomberg’s prolific rate of publication, his promotion of evidence-based policy and his efforts to strengthen the field of criminology and criminal justice.

Dan Mears, Mark C. Stafford Professor of Criminology in the college, co-authored the nominating letter. Mears called Blomberg an essential reason he came to Florida State and said the diversity of Blomberg’s contributions to the field of criminology set him apart.

“He’s led a college, won teaching and mentoring awards, presented before legislatures, written books and given presentations internationally,” Mears said. “Tom’s longevity, his diversity of contributions and his persistent framing of science to inform policy and practice are unique. The Vollmer Award is clearly about all those things and Tom checks all those boxes.”

Malcolm Feeley, Claire Sanders Clements Dean’s Professor of Law Emeritus at UC Berkeley and a co-author of the nominating letter, noted that the award’s namesake, August Vollmer, founded both UC Berkeley’s School of Criminology and the ASC.

“The list of winners includes a U.S. senator, eight federal judges, two former longtime directors of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and a handful of the most honored police chiefs in the history of the country,” he said. “It’s a mind-boggling list, and Tom certainly deserves to be on it.”

Blomberg has authored or co-authored scores of studies and co-authored American Penology: A History of Control, a seminal book in the field that was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. He has lent his expertise to the U.S. Congress, foreign governments and state and local policymakers.

Under his leadership as dean, the college has climbed national rankings and today ranks as the top criminology program in the world.

“Through the years, I’ve been the beneficiary of some fortunate circumstances,” Blomberg said. “This award is a surprise and an incredible honor but ultimately it’s a reflection of this university, college, our wonderful faculty and staff and, of course, our students.”

Building a college into a national leader

Todd Clear, professor at Rutgers University, worked at the college for several years and co-authored the letter nominating Blomberg for the Vollmer Award.

“Tom is an accomplished scholar and he made his mark through his research and creating a framework and an energy behind what was then a new idea of translational criminology,” Clear said. “But he also made his mark in the many of (the college’s) alumni who have made exactly the contributions that the Vollmer Award stands for. He set a tone for the school to care about that kind of work, and the students who leave there carry on that vision.”

Clear is the founding editor of the Journal of Criminology and Public Policy and said Blomberg’s help was instrumental in helping grow the journal from a promising publication to an influential source for policy-relevant research.

Assistant Professor Julie Brancale first met Blomberg as a criminology undergraduate student preparing to take the next step in her education in law school.

Brancale said she sought Blomberg’s advice and a letter of recommendation for law school. He agreed to write the letter and asked her a question that changed her life.

“He asked me what I wanted to do with my law degree,” she said. “I knew I liked school and I was good at school but the directness of that question showed me it was something I hadn’t really thought through.”

Subsequent conversations with Blomberg and an invitation to join him on a research project opened a new path for Brancale.

“I wanted to help people, to make a difference and to leave a positive mark on the world,” she said. “Tom really took me under his wing and showed me what translational research was and what kind of impact it could have on society and how it could make positive change. These were all things I wanted to do with my life.”

A capstone but not an end

Beginning this year, FSU’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice is set to embark on a renovation of the Kellogg Building, located next door to its current home. The project, which will add 50,000 square feet of space to the college, is set to happen 75 years after the first criminology courses were offered at FSU.

Blomberg has shaped the course of the college more than any other figure. But the Vollmer Award puts the spotlight on his long-held desire to make a difference.

“It’s the thread through all of his work,” his wife Jeanine said. “It’s the connection between research and policy and he’s still so excited to make it.”

“I was at my computer and it was 2:30 in the morning when I got the news about the Vollmer Award,” he said with a laugh. “I love my job and the cumulative experience of my life, the memories I’ve made, the happy faces of students graduating, faculty earning tenure, what more could anybody ask for? What an honor. What a privilege.”

Blomberg added: “If there is one single thing that’s salient in any success I’ve had, it’s Jeanine. When I think about how brilliant she is, the wise counsel she’s given me, and how she’s able to help me see things I’d never otherwise see, I am humbled.”

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Florida State University and the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship (JMC) will welcome entrepreneurship educators, center directors, researchers, startup ecosystem builders and innovation leaders from around the world for the 2026 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Conference Oct. 15-17 in Tallahassee.

The conference marks the 30th anniversary of the GCEC, the world’s premier organization supporting university-based entrepreneurship centers and programs. The event arrives during a historic period for FSU, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2026. It also follows the 30th anniversary celebration of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship (JMI).

GCEC brings together more than 500 entrepreneurship leaders from across the globe to exchange ideas, share best practices and explore the future of entrepreneurship education, innovation and economic development. It’s where conversations go beyond theory and into what’s working right now — teaching entrepreneurship, how students are launching ventures and how universities are connecting more intentionally with the innovation ecosystems around them. Across keynotes, breakout sessions and a lot of hallway conversations, attendees swap ideas, co-create resources and explore new approaches for the future of entrepreneurship education.

This year’s theme is momentum, the forward motion that moves ideas into action, transforms challenges into opportunities and fuels the engine of innovation.

“I love entrepreneurship because it is one of society’s greatest force multipliers, helping to build momentum that transforms ideas into action and drives both economic and social impact,” said Eric Liguori, JMC professor and associate dean. “As we prepare to welcome this global group of entrepreneurship leaders to FSU to share best practices, build partnerships and shape the future of innovation and entrepreneurship education, I can’t think of a better theme to capture the essence of entrepreneurship at FSU and the possibilities GCEC 2026 is sure to present.”

“I love entrepreneurship because it is one of society’s greatest force multipliers, helping to build momentum that transforms ideas into action and drives both economic and social impact.”

– Eric Liguori, Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship Professor

FSU is joining a strong lineup of institutions that have hosted the GCEC Conference over its 30-year history, including many of the most well-established entrepreneurship programs around the world. The group of host institutions has helped shape the conference into what it is today: a collaborative forum where relationships turn into partnerships, new program ideas and new ways of thinking about how to best support founders. It’s also one of the few gatherings that shows how quickly entrepreneurship education is evolving across different universities and regions.

“Our unique model of hosting the GCEC Conference on a different campus each year gives attendees a direct look at diverse universities and regional entrepreneurship ecosystems,” said Holly DeArmond, executive director of the GCEC. “Celebrating our 30th anniversary at FSU in 2026 is special. Not only are they home to the nation’s first college of entrepreneurship, but their Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship also recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Together, we represent three decades of leadership in entrepreneurship education and programming.”

Hosting the GCEC Conference provides FSU with a unique opportunity to showcase Tallahassee’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and the university’s leadership in innovation and economic development.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are key priorities within FSU’s strategic vision, reflected through investments in entrepreneurial education, research commercialization, student innovation and community engagement. Through the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, innovation-focused academic programs, startup support initiatives and partnerships across the region, FSU continues to serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurial growth and economic opportunity.

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to experience firsthand the collaborative network that supports entrepreneurs throughout North Florida, including university programs, startup support organizations, business leaders, investors and community partners working together to create an environment where innovation can thrive.

The conference is also expected to generate significant economic and community impact for Tallahassee by bringing visitors from around the world to Florida’s capital city and highlighting the region’s entrepreneurial momentum, research capabilities and commitment to innovation.

Call for session proposals

Entrepreneurship educators, researchers and practitioners are invited to contribute to the global conversation on entrepreneurship education and innovation by submitting session proposals for the 2026 conference.

Proposal Submission Deadline: June 15, 2026
Submit your session proposal

Registration information

Conference registration includes access to keynote presentations, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, hospitality suites, scheduled meals and official conference programming throughout the three-day event.

• Early bird registration: April 1-Aug. 3 ($650)
• Regular registration: Aug. 4-Aug. 31 ($825)
• Late registration: Sept. 1-Oct. 15 ($975)
• Guest dinner pass: $150 per guest, per dinner
• Register Today

The 2026 GCEC Conference will be held on FSU’s campus and at select venues throughout Tallahassee. Attendees will experience the university’s vibrant entrepreneurial community while connecting with peers from leading institutions around the world.

For more information about conference registration, sponsorship opportunities and proposal submissions, visit JMC’s website. If you have any questions, please contact the FSU GCEC committee at gcec@jmc.fsu.edu.

About the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers

The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers is the premier international organization for university-based entrepreneurship centers. Through conferences, professional development opportunities and awards programs, GCEC supports the advancement of entrepreneurship education and innovation ecosystems around the world.

About the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship

The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University is dedicated to teaching, learning and practicing entrepreneurship. As one of the nation’s leading standalone colleges of entrepreneurship, JMC prepares students to become entrepreneurial leaders and innovators while supporting economic development and business creation throughout Florida and beyond.

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Florida State University’s Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship has graduated the first cohort of its Veteran Entrepreneurship Certificate Program in Leon County, with 14 veterans completing the Facilitated Business Modeling Program.

Delivered in partnership with State of Florida nonprofit Veterans Florida, the free program is designed to help participants move from business ideas to actionable business models through practical instruction in customer discovery, market validation and entrepreneurial decision making. The six-week program combined interactive workshops, mentoring and applied exercises focused on helping participants evaluate and strengthen their business concepts.

“Veterans bring an incredible combination of resilience, leadership and adaptability to entrepreneurship,” said Eric Liguori, associate dean for research and external relations in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, who led the program. “What made this cohort especially exciting was watching participants build confidence in their ideas while also building a strong community around one another.”

Participants represented a range of entrepreneurial interests and business development, from early-stage concepts to existing ventures seeking growth and refinement. Throughout the program, participants worked through business modeling activities, explored customer validation strategies and connected with local entrepreneurial resources. In doing so, they learned directly from multiple FSU faculty, including Susana Santos, Bill Lickson, Juliana Binhote, Doug Tatum, and Melissa Roberts, bringing expertise spanning entrepreneurship education, venture growth, finance and innovation and small business development.

Feedback from participants highlighted the practical nature of the program and the value of learning alongside fellow veterans. They praised the program’s open-forum format, its ability to clearly teach how to run a business and how it allowed each attendee to naturally network.

Program organizers said participants consistently pointed to the program’s hands-on approach, real-world applicability and supportive learning environment as key strengths. Several participants also noted that the experience helped them better understand how to refine business ideas, identify customer needs and think strategically about long-term growth.

“This partnership with Veterans Florida reflects the kind of community-centered impact happening every day in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship,” said Susan Fiorito, dean of the college. “We are proud to support veterans and military-connected families as they pursue entrepreneurial opportunities that can create lasting economic and community impact across Florida.”

“This partnership with Veterans Florida reflects the kind of community-centered impact happening every day in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship.”

– Susan Fiorito, dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship

Graduates received a certificate of completion from the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship and are now eligible to join the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship’s statewide alumni network of more than 2,700 Florida business owners.

This program builds on FSU’s longstanding commitment to supporting veterans, service members and military-connected families through entrepreneurship education, workforce development and community engagement initiatives.

For more information about veteran entrepreneurship programming at FSU, visit the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship website.

About Veterans Florida

Veterans Florida is a state-created and funded nonprofit organization. We provide free career, SkillBridge, and entrepreneurship training and opportunities for separating or retiring servicemembers, veterans, and their spouses residing in or moving to Florida. We also assist employers seeking to strengthen their workforce with military talent. For more information, please visit www.veteransflorida.org.

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Signaling immense esteem for his innovative work as a longtime real estate finance scholar, the American Real Estate Society (ARES) recently awarded Florida State University’s G. Stacy Sirmans with the annual James A. Graaskamp Award, one of the academic association’s highest career honors.

“There are a lot of people who would qualify for that award, so I was very honored and surprised to receive it,” said Sirmans, the J. Harold and Barbara M. Chastain Eminent Scholar in Real Estate at FSU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Business.

But Sirmans’ academic colleagues – both down the hall and across the nation – are not surprised by his selection. They say Sirman’s accomplishments embody the academic association’s intention for the award: honoring scholars with research advancements that redefine thinking within the discipline.

“Stacy is widely recognized for his influential contributions to real estate finance, housing economics, mortgage markets and property valuation. His work has shaped the foundation of the field and continues to inform both academic research and professional practice,” said Henry J. Munneke, the Roy Adams Dorsey Distinguished Chair in Real Estate and an associate dean at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

Advancing the field with relevant research

From his early work co-authoring seminal research on rampant assumption financing among home buyers to more recent studies analyzing the effect of climate-change beliefs on risk pricing in the marketplace, Sirmans’ work often breaks new ground. The knowledge he generates then provides insights other scholars rely on as they further examine real estate implications.

“Our job is to create and establish theories and then create the empirical work to support those, to prove them or disprove them, and then eventually that filters into business,” said Sirmans, who also has served as the academic director of the FSU Real Estate Center. “Our job basically is to answer unanswered questions.”

Among Sirmans’ significant co-authored research contributions over the years:

• Climate-change opinions, disaster risk and single-family housing price growth (2025)
• Agree to disagree: NAV dispersion in REITs (2025)
• The role of tenant characteristics in retail cap rate variation (2022)
• The capitalization of insurance premiums in house prices (2015)
• Determinants of house prices: A quantile regression approach (2008)
• The value of housing characteristics: A meta-analysis (2006)
• The composition of hedonic pricing models (2005)
• The effect of anchor tenant loss on shopping center rents (1994)
• The historical perspective of real estate returns (1987)
• Assumption financing and selling price of single-family homes (1983)

Sirmans’ persistent productivity outpaces most others in his field. He recently secured the No. 16 place worldwide among real estate scholars who have published the greatest amount of research in the top three real estate journals over the past five years, as determined by the annual Real Estate Academic Leadership Rankings in the Journal of Real Estate Literature. He ranked in the Top 10 several times in previous years for research productivity on this and other lists, rising to No. 7 globally. His successes play a large part in FSU’s real estate faculty this year placing No. 2 among faculties worldwide for its volume of research in top-tier journals.

Sirmans has forged a “remarkable career of consistent and innovative research output,” said Mariya Letdin, Kyle Riva Associate Professor of Real Estate and a colleague of Sirmans at the Wertheim College. She hailed his “outsized contributions” in hedonic house pricing models, residential mortgages and, more recently, real estate investment trusts, and said his “continued enthusiasm and productivity are truly unique in the field.”

Additionally, his breadth of work has been cited thousands of times by real estate researchers and includes foundational papers for the core real estate areas of housing markets, brokerage and finance, said colleague Tingyu Zhou, FSU’s Dean and Kathy Gatzlaff Associate Professor of Real Estate. Along with the Graaskamp Award, Sirmans received, in 2017, the ARES David Ricardo Medal, given to a thought leader with an extensive record of publications in top journals that have also influenced new research, teaching, public policy and practice.

“These are among the highest honors in the field and reflect the lasting influence of his research,” Zhou said.

Sirmans also received top research honors from his Wertheim College peers across different disciplines, earning the college’s 2023 Distinguished Faculty Research Award and 2019 Outstanding Senior Faculty Research Award. He has also been instrumental in building the college’s Top 10 national standings in real estate, teaching a senior-level finance course in the undergraduate real estate program, which ranks No. 6 among public schools, and a graduate-level finance course for the MBA real estate specialization, which ranks No. 8 among public MBA programs with a real estate specialty.

Known as a scholar and a gentleman

What sets Sirmans apart from many other accomplished scholars, most said, is his collaborative spirit and generosity.

“Stacy is the consummate colleague,” said Dean Gatzlaff, professor emeritus of real estate and namesake of Zhou’s associate professorship who worked with Sirmans for more than 30 years. “He’s approachable, he’s collegial, he’s willing to listen, and he’s careful with his advice. He has always been incredibly supportive of the program’s initiatives and the work of other faculty.”

Zhou said colleagues turn to Sirmans for “conceptual clarity,” saying, “He has a rare ability to take an early-stage idea, identify the core economic question, and position it in a way that leads to a clear and publishable contribution in top journals.”

Letdin called Sirmans the “ultimate team player,” always game to review papers, chair committees, mentor all levels of students or pick up guests at the airport. “He is always happy to pitch in, and no task is too big or too small for him to offer help,” she said.

This kind support extends beyond Florida State University.

Justin Benefield, the Thomas H. Lowder Endowed Chair in Real Estate and professor of finance at Auburn University’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, first met Sirmans by chance in 2003, when they both boarded an airport shuttle in San Jose, Calif., headed to the same event more than an hour away in Monterey. At the time, Sirmans had already developed a glowing reputation as a well-respected real estate scholar, and Benefield had just begun his academic career. Enroute to his first-ever academic conference, Benefield focused on preparations to present his first-ever academic paper.

“Needless to say, I was nervous,” Benefield said. “Stacy spent the entire ride engaging me in conversation, giving me advice, distracting me and generally putting me at ease. He then showed up at my presentation the next morning. He had no reason to spend that much time on a nervous doctoral student from the backwoods of Alabama, but he did; and I am only one on a long list of folks with similar stories.”

Sirmans said while growing up, he never dreamed of becoming a university professor. One of 10 children raised on a farm in the small town of Pearson in Southeast Georgia, he said his hard work began at an early age.

“There were five of us still at home – small kids – when our father passed away. So, our mother basically raised us,” he said. “The main thing it taught me was how to work, and so I sort of carried that through with everything I do. You started a job, started early, finished late. If something broke, you didn’t have the resources to just call somebody and fix it. You figured out how to fix it.”

Sirmans said this tenacity has served him well throughout his life, especially as he tackled advanced degrees.

“I started college and didn’t apply myself, so I did not do very well initially. But I couldn’t quit, because you don’t quit,” Sirmans said. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business at Valdosta State University, Sirmans headed to the University of Georgia for his Ph.D. in finance.

“That first year almost killed me,” he said, but – again – giving up was not an option for him. “So, I just kept going, and all worked out perfectly. I’m in the perfect occupation. This is exactly the place that I needed to be.” Sirmans taught at Emory and Clemson universities and served as a visiting scholar to the former Federal Home Loan Bank Board before choosing to join FSU’s faculty ranks 36 years ago.

Shaped by a legacy of collaboration 

Sirmans credits much of his good fortune to the company he keeps. “One thing that helped me a lot growing up, and through all matter of circumstances, was always hanging around people who were smarter than me,” he said.

His older brother, the late scholar C.F. Sirmans, became his primary role model. The two first collaborated as teenagers, earning money by playing in a popular band that traveled throughout the Southeast, featuring Stacy on keyboards and C.F. on guitar. As time went on, keeping the band intact meant wherever C.F. moved, Stacy soon followed. C.F. became the first to pursue an academic career; Stacy eventually joined him at the University of Georgia, and then both ascended to the top ranks of world-class real estate finance scholars. The pair continued to co-author research studies until two years ago when C.F., by then serving as professor emeritus at FSU, passed away.

These days, Stacy Sirmans finds opportunities to collaborate on research studies with another family member – his son, Stace Sirmans – who serves on the finance faculty at Auburn University. Stacy Sirmans also continues to play keyboards. His band, The Bushmen, plays set lists of mostly classic rock with select country standards. The group plays private parties, including an occasional academic conference when it is held near the Atlantic Coast. Sirmans devotes the rest of his free time to his family, including six grandkids living in Tallahassee or Auburn.

After more than four decades teaching and researching, mostly in Tallahassee, the FSU scholar cannot imagine a better vocation or workplace. He praises the strengths of his faculty colleagues and said he appreciates the ongoing Wertheim College administration’s support and especially the new opportunities for all made possible by the recent $65 million philanthropic investment by Dr. Herbert Wertheim and the newly opened Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence, the college’s $160 million home facility.

Staying true to his steadfast spirit, Sirmans said he has no plans to retire any time soon.

“Oh, I still enjoy it immensely,” he said about his academic responsibilities. “Well, I don’t even call it work.”

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