Emory Hiott named Breland/Adams Chair 

Recently, Dr. Emory Hiott ’14 MBA, assistant professor of marketing, was announced as the Royce W. Breland Jr./Harold H. Adams Jr. Endowed Chair of Business in the Nielsen College of Business. 

To be selected for this position, Hiott went through an extensive interview process that involved a committee of Nielsen College of Business faculty, emeritus faculty, and other faculty from across campus. The selection committee chose Hiott based on her recent research activities in subjects like AI and because of her interests in future research that matches the described expectations of the chair.

This position is the first research endowed chair in the Nielsen College of Business. As the newly named chair,  Hiott will propel research efforts of students and faculty in the Nielsen College of Business. The chair position allows for a research stipend to help fund buying data, conducting surveys, or other activities that CSU business faculty have not previously had available to them.

Hiott said that being named the Breland/ Adams Endowed Chair of Business is a huge honor. She said, “It is incredible to have financially backed research that will hopefully provide practical solutions for businesses and fill a niche in academic literature that will get CSU’s name out there.” 

Hiott first came to CSU as an MBA student and has been a professor at CSU for the past six and a half years. She started as an adjunct professor of marketing in 2016 and was hired as a full-time professor in 2018. Hiott said, “After taking students to China on a joint business as mission trip, I realized my love for the college student population, and I desired to be on a campus that was Christ-centered to step into a new career challenge.”

Throughout her time at CSU, she has served the local community as well as international communities through the very class that brought her to CSU, Creative Teamwork. This class is a culmination of business and mission and provides students the unique opportunity to use giftings in business to spread the Gospel to unreached groups. 

As the Breland/Adams Chair, Hiott hopes to incorporate her passion for business as mission into research efforts. She said, “I hope that through the research some of the sustainable business practices and solutions will be able to be  implemented with our future clients in creative teamwork.” 

Hiott shared what she hoped to accomplish as the chair. She said, “I hope to be able to contribute to the academic research that is already out there and provide students the opportunity to research unique academic topics that will aid in their career development.” 

Dr. David Palmer,  dean of the Nielsen College of Business, said, “Dr. Hal Adam’s desire is that the chair should spearhead the development of a pedagogy that prepares future leaders to be ethical, value-driven, and empathetic decision-makers, dedicated to reducing the environmental and social costs of business in the advanced digital economy. 

“Dr. Hiott’s growing stream of research in the effects of artificial intelligence in relation to marketing and customer dynamics, that includes social and emotional costs, is right in line with the donor’s wishes. We expect Dr. Hiott’s research to be well-read, well-respected, and in the forefront of AI marketing literature, especially in relation to biblical integration in business.” The aim of the Breland/Adams  Chair  is to promote the study and application of sustainable, transparent, and ethical business practices at all levels of corporate infrastructure and equip students to lead fruitful lives in business, armed with a strong education in honest and ethical corporate strategy. 

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