Can you guess what year the first accounting course was offered at UT? Or when the first accounting PhD degree was conferred? How about the year we hired our first tenure-track female faculty member? We’ll take you through a short history of the Department of Accounting at The University of Texas at Austin.
Spurgeon Bell was Dean of the School of Business Administration from 1922-1925.
1912: Spurgeon Bell stands before 20 students in UT’s first accounting class, the Theory and Practice of Accounting.
1928: George Newlove is the first accounting faculty member to receive a distinguished professorship, funded by discovery of oil on university land in 1923.
1934: The first PhD in Accounting at the College of Business Administration is awarded to Lloyd Raisty.
1939: For the first, but not the last, time, accounting classes are populated with more women than men (due to WWII enlistment in the armed forces).
1947: The Department of Accounting is one of five departments created in the College of Business Administration.
1948: The Master in Professional Accounting program is established.
Anna Fowler taught at UT from 1977-2004.
1957: Luzine Bickman is the first Black student to be initiated into the Theta Chapter, a UT fraternal accounting organization.
1958: With nine inaugural members, the Department of Accounting’s Advisory Council is established.
1962: The new Business Administration Economics Building opens (now known as CBA).
1977: Anna Fowler is the first female, tenure-track professor hired by the Department.
1985: The five-year integrated approach to the MPA is introduced, allowing McCombs freshmen and sophomores to begin working on their masters in accounting while still in undergrad.
Rowland Atiase has been a faculty member since 1987.
1987: Rowland Atiase is the first Black, tenure-track professor hired by the Department.
1994: Texas McCombs’ Department of Accounting is ranked #1 in Public Accounting Report’s survey for the first time.
2002: The ECON-MPA program, which allows UT economics students to get a head start on MPA coursework during their senior year, is created.
2012: The Department of Accounting celebrates its 100 year anniversary!
2019: The MPA Program adopts a proposal requiring every course within the program to include content on data analytics.
As you explore your future in accounting, we hope you discovered some new and useful information on the Department of Accounting. Reach out to us or visit our website to learn more!
