The 40th Annual Awards Banquet

Above: Attending recipients of the top 10 graduating seniors of 2008. Below: Honoree Tom Linsmeier and Alumni Jay Price.

The 40th Annual Accounting & Information Systems and Beta Alpha Psi, Sigma Chapter Awards Banquet was held Thursday September 25, 2008 at Inn on the Park. The event brought students, faculty and donors together to honor hard work and continuing contributions.

Professor Terry Warfield was honored with the Most Dedicated Member Award plaque by Beta Alpha Psi. This award will be given to one Beta Alpha Psi member each year who exhibits outstanding service and dedication to the organization. Terry Warfield was the faculty chair and helped develop the Beta Alpha Psi Sigma Chapter for many years before stepping down from the post last year. In addition, Joan Schmit, who was introduced as the school’s new Senior Associate Dean, gave a short welcome speech.

The featured guest of the evening was Thomas (“Tom”) Linsmeier, member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), who was honored as the Department of Accounting and Information Systems’ Distinguished Accounting Alumnus for 2008. Prior to joining the FASB, Tom was the Russell E. Palmer Endowed Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at Michigan State University. He also served as Academic Fellow and Special Consultant to the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he was responsible for developing U.S. financial reporting disclosure rules relating to the market risk inherent in derivatives and other financial instruments. In addition to providing insights for the future accounting professionals, Tom’s acceptance speech thanked both his family and the university for providing him with the opportunities to be so successful.

Along with the honored faculty, teaching assistants were acknowledged for their continuing dedication to maintaining the business school’s high level of education. As the night progressed, the top 10 graduating seniors of 2008 and the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship recipient were recognized and presented plaques displaying their achievements. The main part of the banquet consisted of recognizing outstanding students who were awarded various scholarships. Several new donors were also recognized at the banquet including the Borhegsi family, who was in attendance. The Devitt Graduate Master of Accountancy Scholarship was also announced during the evening’s events. The Accounting Department is very thankful to these new donors and to the donors that consistently give back to the university. Also, congratulations to all of our outstanding students!