Greetings Advisory Board Members, Alumni, and Friends –

Greetings Advisory Board Members, Alumni, and Friends –
We are off to a great start again this year in the OSU School of Accounting with record enrollments.
As of last week, we had 1,998 students enrolled in at least one accounting course and 875 students
declaring accounting as a major. As a Land Grant university committed to accessibility, we work to
meet the challenges of providing high-quality education to students from a wide variety of
backgrounds. Thanks to outstanding efforts by students, staff, faculty, administration, alumni, and
friends we are improving our quantity and quality of graduates, research, and outreach.
The past academic year provided some unique challenges. Thankfully, we are now past the
excitement of our accreditation self-study report and peer review team visit, Dean and Provost
searches, and a lot of planning for a new building. I genuinely appreciate all of you who participated
in these processes with us.
Our accreditation experience was an amazing success, we have a strong leader and friend in the
Dean’s office, and the new building will amaze – thank you! In addition to these feats, we have
recruited two new faculty who complement an already-outstanding team. I believe we are now wellpositioned to focus intensely on the quality and visibility of our programs, research, and graduates.
I am writing to bring you up to speed on a variety of newsworthy items and to provide a calendar of
important events. Please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or email if you have questions, or if
I can be helpful in any way. Thank you again for your amazing support for Oklahoma State
University and our people, including faculty, staff, and students!
Robert M. Cornell, PhD, CMA
Head and Wilton T. Anderson Chair, School of Accounting
Associate Professor of Accounting
Oklahoma State University
401 Spears School of Business
Stillwater, OK 74078
email: robert.cornell@okstate.edu
voice: (405) 744-6377
fax: (405) 744-1680 Advisory Board Meeting Information:
The School of Accounting Advisory Board and friends will meet in the Reading Room (Rm 201) in
the Edmon Low Library on Friday, October 24, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon – this is the date of
Homecoming Walkaround. We will then have a luncheon and general meeting for the combined
membership of the Associates, Spears Society Board, School of Accounting Advisory Board,
Entrepreneurship Board and MBA Advisory Board starting at noon in the Browsing Room (Rm
205.) Information on this broader meeting will follow from the Dean’s office.
Our very own Eddy Ditzler and Mike Pregler have been working closely with the leadership of the
Associates and the Alumni Society to identify the many ways in which we can enhance our
interactions and provide a broader menu of opportunities for engagement throughout the Spears
School. We will provide an update on their efforts. We will also discuss possibilities for an
appropriate structure for the advisory board including member obligations and engagement
opportunities. We will use remaining time for open discussion. I have been asked to participate in
the Homecoming celebration as the honorary judge representing the OSU faculty so I will need to
leave the meetings shortly after lunch. Wish me luck!
Calendar:
October 18, 2014 – Beta Alpha Psi – T. Sterling Wetzel Golf Scramble at Stillwater Country Club,
Contact Monika Turek (monika.turek@okstate.edu) for more information
If you are planning to be in town on October 18th, I would be delighted to visit with you before the
event. Please let me know if you would like to chat.
October 24, 2014 – Spears School Associates / School of Accounting Advisory Board meeting
(11am – 5pm on Stillwater campus) / OSU Homecoming
November 20 – 21 – Oil and Gas Conference, FEI Dinner, Financial Reporting Conference at
Hyatt Regency Hotel in Tulsa (http://spears.okstate.edu/accounting/workshops/)
Our 2013 Oil & Gas Accounting and Accounting & Financial Reporting Conferences were
remarkable successes. Our 2014 conferences will again be held in Tulsa on November 20 and 21.
Both will benefit this year from increased sponsorship from many of you – thank you! – and
hopefully record attendance. Please stay tuned for additional information about the programs. Dr.
Charlotte Wright is putting together another incredible line-up of expert presenters and panelists for
both conferences.
April 23, 2015 – Wilton T. Anderson Hall of Fame / Beta Alpha Psi Scholarship Banquet – OSU
Alumni Center, Click Hall
April 23/24, 2015 (pending) – Spring, School of Accounting Advisory Board
School of Accounting Recognition:
We are starting to be recognized for our efforts – the following link and two pdf attachments to this
email present the results of the most recent Public Accounting Report survey:
http://spears.okstate.edu/news/2014/09/10/osu-school-of-accounting-programs-ranked-amongtop-15-in-annual-professors-survey/
We believe that recognition of the School of Accounting will increase as we continue to focus on
excellence in teaching, research, and outreach, and as we expand and promote the school. We could
not accomplish any of these without your help. Thank you again!
New Faculty:
We were able to add two remarkable colleagues to our team during the 2013-2014 academic year –
both started with us this fall. Here is the announcement:
http://spears.okstate.edu/news/2014/06/25/new-faculty-join-osus-school-of-accounting/
Dan will initially teach Cost Accounting and Scott will start by teaching our Advanced Taxation
course.
Feel free to welcome both using the following email addresses:
Eshleman, Dan dan.eshleman@okstate.edu
White, Scott scott.d.white@okstate.edu
In addition, Dr. Lance Fisher joined the Stillwater faculty full-time from the Tulsa campus. Lance
teaches Advanced Auditing, Financial Accounting Research, Cost Accounting, and Intermediate
Accounting. Lance is an invaluable member of our team and we are very glad to have him with us in
Stillwater!
As I mentioned before, Dr. Ken Eastman was named Dean of the Spears School of Business in
May. We are thrilled to have such a strong leader and friend in the Dean’s office. We wish he would
send Dr. Carol Johnson home to the School of Accounting faculty full-time – Carol serves as
Associate Dean – but alas we are willing to share. Here is the announcement for Ken’s appointment:
https://news.okstate.edu/press-releases/2760-ken-eastman-named-dean-of-oklahoma-stateuniversitys-spears-school-of-businessI was honored to represent the Spears School of Business on the search committee for the new
Provost. We conducted extensive reviews of numerous candidates, many of whom are already
outstanding academic leaders. OSU was fortunate to recruit an exceptional scholar and academic
leader, Dr. Gary Sandefur, back to Oklahoma and to the OSU campus. Here is the announcement
regarding our new Provost:
https://news.okstate.edu/press-releases/2761-oklahoma-state-university-names-oklahoma-nativegary-sandefur-to-lead-academic-programs-as-provostSpears 100 Events / Celebration: We are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Spears School of Business this year. More
information is available at this link (http://spears100.okstate.edu/) and at the links below:
Spears 100 Shirt:
http://shop.eskimojoes.com/browse.cfm/4,4362.html Building groundbreaking:
http://orangeconnection.org/controls/email_marketing/admin/email_marketing_email_viewer.asp
x?sid=860&gid=53&eiid=3868&seiid=10486&usearchive=1&puid=b9f794e1-e99e-41da-aaf00eca377f1560 Promotion:
We have been working to increase the visibility of our accounting students on campus and
throughout Oklahoma and the region. One of our efforts has been to provide every accounting
major a School of Accounting t-shirt. Phillips 66 generously sponsored our orange color shirts last
year – see below – and ConocoPhillips is sponsoring the black color shirts this year. We have a few
orange shirts left and will have ample supply of the black shirts in the next few weeks. The graphics
below show the front and back of each shirt. If you would like a School of Accounting t-shirt please
send me an email with your size and mailing address. We will put one in the mail as soon as we can.
A few final notes:
As our enrollments grow, we will need to add a few adjunct faculty to our ranks. I will reach out to
some of you to see if you or someone you know might be interested in teaching a class or two a year
in Stillwater. Our requirements for teaching are somewhat restrictive due to our AACSB
accreditation, but I would appreciate any inquiries or suggestions for high-quality adjunct lecturers.
We are working to restart our annual newsletter. Our production of the newsletter paused for a time
as we have worked to focus on our programs, faculty recruiting, and other related activities.
However, I am thrilled to report that your support for accounting students remains strong. In the
last academic year the School of Accounting awarded $162,000 in scholarships to undergraduate,
PPA, and Master’s students, $56,000 to PhD students, and direct Graduate Assistant support with
SOA funds of nearly $90,000.
Alyssa Vowell has done a fantastic job coordinating our MS program. We have worked to streamline
the program so students can start employment with the CPA exam completed as quickly as possible.
We now have in place a 15-month Masters of Science in Accounting for students who have a BS in
Accounting and meet our admission requirements. The program starts each May with the Practicum
course, students can then take two additional graduate-level accounting courses in the summer
(typically Governmental Accounting and Advanced Auditing), complete all but the CPA review
during the following fall and spring semesters, and then complete the CPA review course and CPA
exam the second summer. We continue to offer our PPA 3/2 and 4/1 programs for our own and
transfer students. Our hope is that we will be able to recruit strong students from regional schools
that lack this type of MS program. We have had great success with students from regional schools in
Oklahoma and hope that we can enhance this pipeline, in part as a service to provide top-quality
graduate education to students from throughout Oklahoma.
As part of our focus on increasing the quality of our programs, the faculty sent a letter to all students
enrolled in at least one accounting course earlier this fall. The letter attempts to communicate our
expectations for how faculty and students will interact, and our commitment to excellence. I have
attached the letter for your review. Happy reading!
Monika Turek has done an amazing job as the Pat Dorr Beta Alpha Psi Advisor. We all owe her a
debt of gratitude for her efforts on behalf of the students and the School of Accounting. Beta Alpha
Psi has introduced a “sponsorship” plan this year that streamlines the fee structure for participating
companies and firms with the positive side-effect of an increase in the quantity and quality of
activities for our students. The response has been outstanding – thank you! We certainly appreciate
your participation and support for our Beta Alpha Psi program, and we appreciate your patience as
we work through the occasional scheduling issues. You can see the newly revised Beta Alpha Psi
web site and calendar here: http://bap.okstate.edu/
Finally, Dr. Tony Kang accepted a position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
earlier this summer. We are in the process of recruiting to fill his vacated position. He was a valued
member of our group for five years, and we wish Tony the very best in his future pursuits.
Thank you again for your support for the OSU School of Accounting. I look forward to catching up
with each of you soon. Best wishes for a prosperous 2014 and beyond!