News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Most gift givers likely won’t choose a digital gift card over a physical gift card, even though many recipients would prefer the digital version.

That’s the key finding from new research by gifting expert Julian Givi, an assistant professor of marketing at West Virginia University’s Chambers College of Business and Economics. With Farnoush Reshadi and Gopal Das, Givi conducted five studies on givers’ and recipients’ reactions to scenarios involving digital and physical gift cards, analyzing the results in a paper forthcoming in Psychology and Marketing.

(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of news releases highlighting ways WVU is serving the Mountain State. Access photos, video and additional resources in a Media Toolkit from WVUToday.)

“There’s an elephant in the room,” says Dick Riley, chair of the Accounting department at the Chambers College. “I’m not afraid to look it in the eye and say, ‘I know you’re there, and you’re wrong!”

Time for a thought experiment: imagine an accountant.

Two accomplished West Virginia University alumni, Veronique Vernot and Rodney Williams, are the newest members of the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors. Elected during the November meeting, each will serve a six-year term expiring in 2028.

Attending events as a business student has its benefits. 

Aside from EY, other employers consisted of: ALKU, Alvarez & Marsal, LLC, Baker Tilly, CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc., FORVIS, KPMG LLP, MegaCorp Logistics LLC, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, NVR / Ryan Homes, Summit Human Capital, Walgreens and more. 

New research from West Virginia University shows religiosity can help turn believers into entrepreneurs. 

Our faculty and staff are always doing amazing things. View the latest Department Digest to see what they have been up to and catch what they’re saying in the media. 

West Virginia University Accounting Department has been approved and recognized as a Foundation Level Internal Audit program with the Institute of Internal Audit's Education Partnership Program. The recognition lets students know that our program has a strong curriculum, and we have partnerships with employers for job and internship opportunities. It also helps attract more employers that are looking for internal audit and accounting majors. Learn more. 

Chambers College MBA graduate and West Virginia native Selena Hayes also received her undergraduate degree in psychology from WVU.

“My employer of nearly 15 years closed their Morgantown facility in 2021, providing me with the perfect opportunity to further my education,” said Hayes. “I wanted a degree that would broaden my horizons and increase the availability of future career opportunities. The WVU MBA program checked all of those boxes while offering the convenience and flexibility of online coursework.

Timothy Holt, a WV native residing in Atlanta, Georgia, received his nursing degree from Auburn University and his nurse practitioner doctorate from the University of Tennessee, but he wanted to continue his education through our Chambers College Healthcare MBA (HMBA) program.

“I read that the HMBA program was a new initiative and I wanted to be part of an initial cohort,” said Holt. “The Chambers College has a reputation of being student-friendly and I was looking for a professional program who treated their students more as peer professionals and embraced adult education versus a traditional student.