Navarrete Wins Top Staff Award

The Turner College’s Danielle Navarrete took home the top staff award at the 2020 University Awards Convocation. Navarrete won the President’s Staff Excellence Award, which is presented annually to the staff member who demonstrates consistently superior performance in their position and within the University in a way that contributes to advancing and promoting one or more of the University’s six core values: Excellence, Engagement, Creativity, Servant Leadership, Inclusion, and Sustainability.

In describing Danielle’s qualifications and accomplishments, CSU President Chris Markwood remarked that she “. . . is self-motivated and organized, and has consistently demonstrated exemplary performance throughout her time at Columbus State University[, and that [s]he is an asset to not only the Turner College of Business but to CSU as a whole.”

During her time at CSU, Danielle has served on Staff Council, where she held the positions of Financial Officer and co-chair of the Fundraising committee, effectively working to increase funding for staff professional development and staff appreciation. She regularly volunteers for Day of Service and assists with student organizations such as the Accounting Club. Danielle is currently the advisor for Beta Gamma Sigma, a national honor society for AACSB Accredited Business Schools, and for the last two years, she has accompanied students to the annual Global Leadership Summit in Chicago.

As a critical member of the Turner College, Danielle is the assistant to the Chairs of the Accounting & Finance and Management & Marketing departments, and she was recently given the position of Data Analyst in the college. Danielle is the only staff member serving on the TCOB’s Assurance of Learning committee, and she was selected to attend an Adobe software conference and present at CSU’s Welcome Week events at the beginning of the academic year. She is a certified administrator of the Watermark Digital Measures software for the College and is now assisting in its universitywide implementation.

Markwood concluded this portion of the Convocation by noting that Danielle is “always willing to enhance her skills and knowledge, she tirelessly attends conferences, and works towards certifications in areas related to her job duties. She has proven to be consistently exceptional and efficient in the workplace and is devoted to the mission and values that represent Columbus State University.”

Turner College Economist Making Mark in Health Economics

A previous issue of Turner Business reports on the Turner College’s development of a new course in health economics, provided to CSU students by Fady Mansour, an assistant professor of Economics. Mansour’s research program is largely geared toward health economics, and in the past two years it has been quite successful. His 2019 study, appearing in Applied Economics, measured the impact of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) on employer-sponsored health insurance, and found the ACA provisions reduced health insurance coverage take-up rates in small firms by more than 2.5 percentage points (compared to large firms).

A 2020 study by Mansour investigates the effect of certificate-of-need (CON) regulation on the quality of care in the U.S. nursing home industry. The study, which appears in Healthcare, reports that the presence of CON regulation leads to a substitution of lower-quality certified nursing assistant care for higher-quality licensed practical nurse care, regardless of the type of nursing home under consideration. It also finds that health survey scores for nursing homes computed by healthcare professionals are about 18 to 24 percent lower in states with CON regulation.

Mansour’s 2021 publication in the Journal of Economics and Finance reports that, after passage of the ACA, employee take-up rates on employer sponsored health insurance plans are almost 10 percent greater for grandfathered plans (compared to non-grandfathered plans).

Lastly, a new study by Mansour set for publication in the Journal of Insurance Issues investigates the impact of automatic enrollment on employer-sponsored health insurance coverage take-up rates. It finds that if all eligible firms opted to use automatic enrollment, 8.7 million more individuals would retain private health insurance coverage (through their employers).