From the Chair, Urton Anderson
This year marks an important occasion, the 50th anniversary of the Department of Accounting Advisory Council.
Since 1958, our Advisory Council members have been strong allies, program champions, trustworthy experts, and good friends, and the department marked the group’s anniversary with a special reception and dinner at the new AT&T Conference Center on October 3, 2008. In this issue of the Accounting Times, former department chairs recall the many contributions our advisory council members have made to our programs throughout the years.
Backed by our Advisory Council, alumni and friends, our programs have been at the top of the charts for the last 14 years. Joining our winning team this fall are colleagues we believe will be valuable assets to McCombs and the department.
The new dean of the McCombs School, Dr. Thomas Gilligan, comes to us from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles. He succeeds George Gau, whose six-year appointment as dean ended in August. Both the selection committee and those who met Dean Gilligan during the selection process were impressed with his scholarly credentials, administrative experience and record of leadership.
In June, we welcomed Jim Franklin as the new director of the Master in Professional Accounting program. It’s a homecoming for Jim, who is a 1993 MPA graduate. His first-hand knowledge of the program and his private and public sector experience will make for a strong foundation as he leads the MPA team.
Four impressive new faculty members have also joined the Department of Accounting ranks. Shuping Chen received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, and was an assistant professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. She will teach financial accounting. Her specialties are voluntary disclosure practices and the relationship of organizational structure on financial reporting choices.
John McInnis completed our MPA program and went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Formerly, he worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young in Houston. John’s area of interest is earnings management and how it influences financial reporting. He will also teach financial accounting.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D., Jeri Seidman was a former senior consultant at Deloitte. Jeri’s research and teaching emphasis is tax. She specializes in the relationship between corporate tax and financial reporting.
And finally, Nicholas Seybert, who received his doctoral degree from Cornell, comes to us as a financial reporting expert whose work focuses on regulation and its effect on earnings management. He will be teaching financial statement analysis.
We also welcomed five new doctoral students: Brett Cantrell; Isaac Goodwin; Brent Lao; Tracie McDonald; and Erin Towery—who were chosen from 115 fall applicants to our Ph.D. program. And Erin is no stranger to the McCombs School; like MPA Director Jim Franklin and Professor John McInnis, she boasts a Texas MPA degree.
This fall, as we look back over the 50 years of support, friendship and invaluable contributions of our advisory council, we are reminded again of the integral role the members play in the department’s success. And as talented newcomers join the ranks of our advisory council and gifted faculty and staff, our team grows even stronger. With this potent combination of the old and the new, it’s clear our programs can only gain momentum. I know you join me in the anticipation of the many awards and notoriety the future has in store for the Department of Accounting.
