In the latest Notesworthy blog post, Dean Gilligan commends the Texas MPA and The University of Texas Accounting Department for their dominating spirit of achievement.
Archives for MPA Program Info
Welcome, Texas MPA Class of 2014!
In the not-to-distant future, you will be stepping foot on The University of Texas at Austin campus and spending plenty of time in the McCombs School of Business. The MPA Program Office staff and accounting faculty will be assisting you, step by step, to prepare you for your classes and the busy, yet exciting, employment recruiting season. In the meantime, we recommend that you…
Learn about UT’s history and traditions with Ten Things Every Longhorn Should Know.
Take a virtual tour of The University of Texas at Austin’s campus.
Become familiar with student life at UT and in the McCombs School of Business. Over the years, our student bloggers have published a McCombs mini tour, information about the MPA Lounge and other favorite places to study, and the perks to being in Austin and attending a large, prestigious research university.
A Mini Tour of the McCombs School of Business
Love the Place That You Study In!
I Met a Famous Author Thanks to UT!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Accounting Professor Lisa Koonce Selected in the Top 10
Originally posted by Katy McDowall in the Alcade. Photo by Matt Wright-Steel.
There are some teachers you just don’t forget. Nominated by alumni, these professors are among the best and most inspiring on the Forty Acres. Meet this year’s Texas 10.
Lisa Koonce
Professor, Accounting
Growing up in a small town in Southern Illinois, Lisa Koonce never thought she would attend college, let alone become a professor. She assumed she would be a secretary.
“It’s surprising to me still, at this point in my life, that I’m actually a university professor,” Koonce says. “People from my town didn’t do that sort of thing.”
Today, Koonce is the Deloitte and Touche Chair in Accounting at UT, where she has taught for 22 years and she’s earned a number of awards, including The University of Texas System Regents’ Teaching Award.
Teaching mostly seniors on their way to becoming certified public accountants, Koonce’s goal is to show her students that there’s more to accounting than just right or wrong answers.
“It’s not just black and white,” Koonce says. “There are a lot of financial situations that require judgment. I hope they realize that’s what they’re going to spend most of their professional lives doing.”
Koonce’s classroom also doubles as her research lab. While researching how accountants measure assets and liabilities at fair value, she often uses her students as test subjects.
“A lot of the projects I work on are related to ideas that students bring up in class,” she says. “If I really listen to them, I understand how they’re messing up their reasoning process.”
Ultimately, the research ideas Koonce gets from her students come full circle, helping her to teach more effectively.
“I view it as a pretty big privilege to work here,” she says, “and I feel very responsible for how they turn out.”
Meet our other Texas 10 professors here.
Texas MPA is #1…Again!
The Texas MPA was ranked first in the nation for the seventh year in a row in the U.S. News and World Report’s survey of Best Graduate Schools!
Visit our MPA rankings web page to learn about recent faculty accomplishments, highlighting the hard work that makes ours the top graduate accounting program in the country.
category: McCombs News, MPA Program Info
Are You Ready for the Texas MPA?
The Texas MPA program accepts individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds. In fact, typically 50% of our incoming class is comprised of students who hold undergraduate degrees in areas outside of accounting!
If you are an incoming student with a non-accounting background, you may be concerned about being prepared to start our program. Yes, our program is challenging, and our students are high achievers, but have no fear! Taking a few extra steps now will help you feel ready.
- Complete the pre-enrollment requirements prior to starting our program.
- Take advantage of the self-study resource that is mailed to students early in the summer so that you can get a head start on the financial accounting (ACC 381) material.
- Meet with your academic advisor and participate in a career orientation webinar and resume review early in the summer.
- Plan to attend MPA orientation in August, as you will meet the rest of the traditional MPA incoming class; learn from faculty members, MPA staff, current students and alumni about course options, study abroad options and career paths; and prepare for the employment recruiting season.
- Be prepared for a busy fall schedule! Not only do your classes intensify in the fall, but also employment recruiting is in full swing. Maintaining a balance between your courses and recruiting activities is a definite challenge, so plan to keep your course load moderate and extracurricular activities to a minimum.
Keep in mind that
- Our curriculum is customized based on a student’s academic background. Students with accounting undergraduate degrees will waive and substitute electives for our core courses if they have completed the equivalent prior to entering our program. Those without an accounting background will start with our core courses (ACC 381 and ACC 380k.11) in the summer, continue with additional core courses in the fall, and enroll in classes with others from non-accounting backgrounds.
- Our students are high achievers but come from diverse backgrounds and operate in a collaborative environment.
Our student bloggers provide their thoughts as they progress through our program. I recommend that you read the blog regularly to gain an insider’s perspective! Here are a few posts related to adapting to the program:
Surviving and Thriving as a tMPA
You Have a Liberal Arts Degree. What Should You Expect in the Program?
category: MPA Program Info
MPA Student Life Blog- Around Austin in 30 Days May 9, 2013Like many UT students, I started making a mental bucket list of things to do in and around Austin the moment I set foot on campus as a freshman.From food trucks and swimming holes to the plethora of music opportunities, Austin is full of great things to do. Sadly, while balancing homework, exams and class, […]
- A Weekend of Sunny Rays is Good for the Mind April 17, 2013I spent this past weekend outside; eating dirt on the soccer field, (that’s fútbol to my Hispanic friends and football to my European buddies), flinging Frisbees around campus, and exploring Austin’s Mount Bonnell. The past couple of weeks have been a little stressful with school, work, and trying to get a hold of my personal […]
- The Pur$uit of Happine$$: Part 3 April 5, 2013Hi everyone, Like Melissa, I just wanted to cap my experience spending a semester interning. Melissa talked about how she utilized the things she learned from her academic studies for her internship, so I thought I would talk about some of the softer and more intangible skills that I took to public accounting from my […]
- Melissa Takes Boston: Part 4 March 29, 2013Hello everyone! I am back with one last installment about my internship experiences this semester. McCombs provides its students with a well-rounded business education and as I reflect on my internship, I realize that I used far more than just what I learned in my accounting classes. I thought I would share with you all […]
- Around Austin in 30 Days May 9, 2013
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If you’re thinking about applying to the Texas MPA program via the traditional approach, tune in to the admissions blog. Our Assistant Director shares tips about applying, updates on the admissions process, and what to expect once you’re in the program.
Have questions? E-mail Keri- McCombs Today
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- NYC Greets McCombs, Texas Venture Labs with NASDAQ Appearance June 12, 2013With NASDAQ hosting the McCombs School and the 2013 winners of the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition, faculty, staff, alumni and coporate partners descended on New York City to celebrate. For 11 years now, winners of the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (GVLIC) world champion team have joined competition and Texas Venture Labs director […]
- Celebrating 30 Years of Launching Student Ventures [Infographic] June 11, 2013Over the past 30 years the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition has awarded more than $1.4 million to student startups. Take a look at the competition's history, trends, and success stories. In 1984, the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (formerly known as Moot Corp)—the world's first business plan competition—was held at The Univers […]
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