By Kimberly Harrington

Livingstone News Service

Dr. Colin Pillay, associate professor in business administration at Livingstone College, was awarded for his leadership and research at the Institute for Business Research Conference in Las Vegas in January.

For leadership, Pillay was recognized for his ongoing commitment to faculty development and in appreciation of research support provided to academic communities.

For research, he received an Outstanding Research Award for a paper titled, “Development of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Rowan County, North Carolina.” The paper was also accepted for publication in the Review of Business and Finance Studies Journal.

“Dr. Pillay is a progressive thinker, who always supports with vigor the ideals of our mission, which is to prepare students for a global society,” said Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins Sr., Livingstone College president. “We are proud that this conference recognized his invaluable contributions and exemplary scholarship as we do here at Livingstone.”

“I have observed that in working with his students, Dr. Pillay teaches them the importance of academic excellence as well as professional behavior. He believes that both technical competence and ethical conduct are the key for students to be successful in the global economy,” said Dr. R.D. Sharma, dean of Livingstone College business department.

Pillay has served at Livingstone College since 2010. Two years upon joining the faculty, he created and taught the first entrepreneurship course and subsequently created the Entrepreneurship Concentration Program.

He has been the advisor to the Phi Beta Lambda organization since 2010. Students in this organization have attended many state and national conferences and frequently attend events sponsored by the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.

He is also advisor to the college’s Capstone business simulation game, which is a project of the business policy class. Administered by a company called CAPSIM, it is one of the two direct measures of student performance and is required by the International Accreditation Council for Business Education, the accreditor for the School of Business. Consistently, Livingstone students rank high in this competition under his leadership.

In 2015, Pillay led the first team of students from Livingstone College to Invertis University in India. That same year, he led the faculty team that helped Livingstone College to achieve International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education candidacy status.

He serves as the liaison between Livingstone College and the Rowan Idea Center and attends events related to entrepreneurial development in Salisbury and Winston-Salem.

Pillay graduated from the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa with a Bachelor of Science in computer science. He received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Iowa State University, where he obtained a Master of Science degree in computer science. After working at Exxon Production Research and Continental Airlines, he obtained an MBA from Texas A&M University in College Station and a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Louisiana Tech University.

He taught at Southern Arkansas University, St. Michael’s College and Gannon University before joining Livingstone College.