MPA Alumni Build a Five-Year Program at the University of Texas at Dallas
By Matthew Polze, BBA ’99, MPA ’99
As proud graduates of the integrated (five-year) approach to the Texas Master in Professional Accounting program, Amy Troutman (née Bass), BBA ’97, MPA ’97, and I hoped that our career paths would impact future generations of accountants, but neither of us imagined our impact being quite as direct as it has turned out to be.
After graduating, Amy went to work for PricewaterhouseCooopers in their Dallas office. In 2001, she joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) as a senior lecturer in the Accounting and Information Management Department. After earning my degrees in 1999, I went to work in the Dallas office of Arthur Andersen, and then entered The University of Texas School of Law in 2000. Upon completion of my law degree, I went to work as a corporate and securities lawyer with Baker Botts in Dallas. In 2006, I joined Amy at UT Dallas as a senior lecturer.
Even prior to joining the faculty at UT Dallas, Amy and I had had several conversations about the possibility of starting a five-year accounting program that would be modeled on our great experiences at McCombs. After becoming colleagues, we began work on getting the program up and running.
While there have been some hurdles to overcome, and certainly there will be additional growing pains, the inaugural class of the Professional Program in Accounting (PPA) at UT Dallas formed in spring 2008. There were approximately 80 applicants, and following individual interviews they were narrowed down to an initial class of 35 students. The average UTD grade point average among the entering students was above a 3.6. The selected students are some of the true campus leaders, including honors students and athletic captains, and they will hopefully go on to become leaders in the accounting profession.
The students in the program will take at least one PPA “cohort” class together per semester during their last five semesters at UT Dallas so that they can better network with their peers, faculty and professionals. Similar to the program at The University of Texas at Austin, there is a lyceum that the students take part in to gain skills that they will need to excel as professionals, as well as to have the opportunity to learn about issues currently facing the accounting profession.
The students in this first class of the PPA at UT Dallas have been very fortunate to receive internship offers from the best accounting firms in the market as well as receiving several wonderful industry opportunities. Many of them have come back to us to let us know how much they appreciate what we have done for them in setting them on this career path.
Of course, it is nice to hear the thanks from students, but we really feel that a good portion of the thanks should be directed to the faculty and staff who are associated with the integrated approach to the MPA at McCombs. The experiences that we had in the program helped shape us, and ultimately, the program that we are creating here at UT Dallas. If you want to be the best, you have to model yourself after the best, and we are fortunate enough to have graduated from the best accounting program in the country.
Our goal now is to see the five-year accounting programs at both UT Austin and UT Dallas ranked first and second in the nation. Given the fact that Amy and I share split allegiances, we won’t say in which order!
