Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Lindsay Givens

Please tell us a brief bio of your career – how long have you taught at the Rankin College of Business, what courses do you typically teach, what are your research interests, what is your educational background, etc.  

I’ve been a member of the RCB faculty since 2016. Prior to joining the RCB faculty, I worked as a staff accountant for Emrich & Scroggins, LLP in El Dorado for five years. I earned a BBA in accounting from SAU in 2012, followed by an MBA from SAU in 2014. In 2024, I earned a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Business Analytics concentration) from the University of South Alabama.

I teach stats! Over the last nine years, I’ve taught almost every undergraduate business student in at least one stats course. These days, the main courses I teach are Statistics & Analytics II and the graduate-level Business Analytics course. I’m a number-cruncher and a data nerd, and I love taking scary-sounding statistics and analytics techniques and showing students how useful (and easy!) they can be.

In addition to teaching my courses, I’m also the faculty advisor for the SAU chapter of FBLA-Collegiate.

My research interests vary from supply chain disruptions and resilience enhancement to student engagement and pedagogy. If there’s an opportunity to analyze data, I’m usually interested in it!

What sets the Rankin College of Business apart from other business schools?

The personal attention students receive from RCB faculty is second to none. We know our students’ names, backgrounds, interests, and career plans. On graduation day, we take pictures with them and meet their families. RCB faculty have an open-door policy, and we work one-on-one with students to help them master concepts and reach their goals. If they’re student-athletes, we make an effort to go to their athletic events. We don’t just teach students. We invest in them.

RCB students also have some incredible travel opportunities. Each May, students have the chance to travel internationally as part of their International Business coursework. Since 2019, RCB students and faculty have traveled to Greece, Kenya, and Italy. In May 2025, Dr. Shane Warrick and I will lead a group of 12 students on a two-week trip to Italy and Switzerland. Students will learn about international business firsthand through business visits and conversations with local entrepreneurs, and they’ll get to tour some incredible historical sites along the way. Another group of RCB students and faculty will be traveling to Costa Rica at the same time. I’m a firm believer that international travel is the best investment one can make, and the RCB makes once-in-a-lifetime experiences like these possible for our students each year.

Do you have any favorite memories from your time at the Rankin College of Business?

One of my favorite RCB memories is the surprise party my colleagues threw for me the day I defended my Ph.D. dissertation in February 2024. As soon as I completed my dissertation defense on Zoom, I opened my office door and was met with flowers, high-fives, and congratulations from everyone. Brian Logan had already covered the “Ms. Lindsay Givens” nameplate on my door with a Post-It that said “Dr.” They even planned a catered lunch for me, complete with posters that Miranda Bryan designed, balloons, and a cake made by my sister. That was one of the happiest days of my life, and it meant so much to me to share it with them.

Some of my other favorite RCB memories are from FBLA trips each summer. I’ve traveled with students to FBLA conferences in Baltimore, San Antonio, Chicago, Atlanta, and Orlando. I love watching our students prove time and time again that they can go toe-to-toe with the best business students in the country!

I suspect the Italy trip in May 2025 will quickly become one of my favorite RCB memories, too!

Are you currently doing something interesting or unusual in your classroom? If so, what is it and why are you doing it?

I use horse racing to explain some of the introductory probability concepts I cover in Stats 1. Students usually perk up when we start talking about exactas, trifectas, and superfectas during the probability lessons on permutations and combinations! I also let them “bet” for bonus points when we discuss statistical decision theory. I offer two bonus points to students that choose to play it safe and not bet (maximin strategy), or students can bet by picking a horse for a chance at extra bonus points (maximax strategy). Those that bet don’t get any bonus points if their horse loses, though! Most play it safe and take the two points!

In Stats 2, I’ve recently begun using a visual aid I created called “bowls of variance” to explain the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. I pour water from a pitcher into bowls to demonstrate how a two-factor ANOVA allocates the variance in a dataset to the factors responsible for it. Properly allocating the explainable variance reduces the error variance in the dataset, as depicted by the dropping waterline in the pitcher. ANOVA can be tricky to understand at first, but this demonstration seems to help students visualize the calculations.

What are your hobbies/interests (other than making the RCB/SAU great)? Or When you’re not working, what do you do?

I love to travel! In recent years, I’ve traveled to Spain, Portugal, France, Andorra, Australia, St. Maarten, and all over the USA and Canada. I’ll be adding Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, and hopefully some other European destinations to that list this summer. I also try to visit at least one new national park each year. I love horse racing, true crime documentaries and podcasts, quoting Friends, and attending as many George Strait concerts as I possibly can.

What advice would you offer to a new student beginning their course of study at the Rankin College of Business?

Get to know your professors! We don’t bite! We want you to succeed, and we love when students stop by our offices to visit or ask questions.

Get involved in the RCB the moment you set foot on campus! The most common regret I hear from FBLA members is that they wish they’d gotten involved sooner.

Take advantage of every opportunity to travel, especially internationally. International travel will change your life in all the best ways, and the RCB provides some amazing opportunities for you to experience this.