Congratulations to Kristina Zvinakis on her promotion to Senior Lecturer. This well-deserved promotion recognizes her tireless work for the Department of Accounting. In addition, Kristina was honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award at this year’s MPA Commencement.

Several Faculty Members Selected for Honor Rolls
Lecturer Brian Lendecky was selected for the Fall 2016 Texas Evening MBA (TEMBA) Faculty Honor Roll.

Designed for rising managers and seasoned professionals, TEMBA provides the path to an MBA that allows you to continue working throughout your study, applying what you learn to your career in real time. With such high-quality students, it’s a major honor to be selected for the TEMBA Faculty Honor Roll.

Lecturer Donna Johnston-Blair and Assistant Professor Brady Williams were selected for the Fall 2016 BBA Honor Roll.

The BBA Honor Roll is an initiative of the Undergraduate Business Council (UBC, the student leadership group) to acknowledge those who perform exceptionally well in the classroom in BBA classes, thus enriching the student experience and setting a standard to which we can all aspire.

It’s great to see students recognize our high-quality instructors as we have always focused on hiring the best and brightest.

Jaime Schmidt Appointed Editor
Jaime Schmidt was appointed as an Editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory (AJPT). Jaime will serve as editor from 2017-20. AJPT is the highest ranked journal specializing in auditing research with a five-year SSCI Score of over 1.
Jaime is on a roll as her research team was recently awarded a grant from The American Institute of CPAs’ Assurance Research Advisory Group to fund their current study. Congratulations Jaime!

Terri Holbrook Wins McCombs Teaching Award
Terri Holbrook was selected by the Faculty Teaching Awards Committee to receive the 2016-17 Hank & Mary Harkins Foundation Award for Effective Teaching in Undergraduate Classes. This award is one of the ways McCombs honors faculty for their contributions to the school. Terri was recognized at the faculty meeting and luncheon on Wednesday, April 26 and presented with her award.

Eric Hirst named to Leadership Positions
Eric Hirst was named Chairman of the Board for the Texas 4000, one of the longest annual charity bicycle rides in the world. Each year a group of University of Texas students make a 70-day, 4,687 mile bike trek from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska to raise money for various cancer-related organizations.

Eric has also become a Member of the Board of the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). GMAC is an international non-profit organization of business schools. The organization owns the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and a variety of other tools for academic institutions. This is a major honor as all members are elected by a majority vote of the Primary Representatives of the Members.

Jaime Schmidt Selected for Assurance-Related Research Award
The American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA) Assurance Research Advisory Group (ARAG) recently announced two awards for research that addresses assurance topics of interest to the CPA profession and accounting Professor Jaime Schmidt was among those honored.

ARAG, a group of practitioners and academics formed in collaboration with the American Accounting Association, issued a request for proposals last July. After reviewing submissions, Associate Professor Jaime Schmidt and her research team were chosen as one of the winners of a grant to fund their current research, “Identifying Significant Components and Determining Component Materiality in Group Audits: Does a Focus on Size Miss the Mark?” Jaime’s research team consists of Ann G. Backof, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, Brant E. Christensen, Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Steven M. Glover, Professor and Associate Dean at Brigham Young University.

Ross Jennings and Lisa Koonce were elected to join Jaime Schmidt, Yong Yu, Robert Freeman and Volker Laux (re-elected for another two-year term) as members of the Executive Committee for two-year terms. Congratulations!