Large, one-off events such as music concerts can create economic impacts not seen from professional sports, suggests rockin’ research by Joshua Hall, chair and professor of economics. Hall and Justin Parker, a 2020 Ph.D. economics graduate, found that Pearl Jam’s Seattle “Home Shows” in August 2018 generated $58 million in additional hotel revenue and $9 million in hotel tax revenue. That dwarfs Seattle Mariners baseball games ($140,000 in additional hotel revenue on game days). Their research was published in the Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights.
First Pitch
Supported by Silicon Valley CEO Ray Zinn, the first ZinnStarter Pitch Competition, hosted by the LaunchLab, gave aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs an opportunity to win cash to build their ideas into the next groundbreaking product or business. Winners included: First place ($2,500): Emma Adams, WVU animal and nutritional sciences major, and her business idea PetRecord, which provides universal medical records for pets in emergency situations; second place ($1,500): Cameron Keefe, global supply chain management major, and her idea ThermoRoller, which combines physical massage with temperature control to relieve sore muscle pain; and third place ($1,000) to the team of Austin Davis, Anne Byer and Emily Thomas, from the University of Charleston, and their idea Second Chance, a program that helps give active control back to people with quadriplegia and paraplegia.
All Women, All Business
Prior to 2019, West Virginia University was the only Big 12 school without a student organization dedicated to women in business. That fall semester, Deanna Crumm – now a marketing and organizational leadership senior – and other young women in the Chambers College began the University’s first Women in Business student organization to foster a supportive community of women and equip them with the knowledge, skills and network to succeed and follow their passions.
Ignite!
The Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship continues to empower budding entrepreneurs across the Mountain State with the tools needed to flourish. The Encova Center is launching IgniteWV, thanks to $200,000 in grant funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
Economics graduate honored with Order of Augusta
Senior William Turman was honored with the Order of Augusta, WVU’s highest student award. An economics major from Barboursville, Turman has had an extremely active WVU career, participating in the Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps, the Student Government Association and the Chambers College’s Behavioral Economics and Situational Testing (BEAST) Lab, which he also named. His next steps include being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, interning with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and pursuing his graduate studies in economics.
Eight is Great
For the eighth consecutive year, the College’s Professional Sales Institute was named a Top University Sales Program in the world by the Sales Education Foundation. The listing highlights the top sales programs at higher education institutions that include 134 schools in North America and 16 international schools.