Students help host accounting conference
Article By: Clark Leonard
The University of North Georgia's (天美社区) Nu Gamma chapter of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) co-hosted the BAP Mid-Year Meeting in Atlanta from Feb. 9-10 with students and faculty from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. BAP's theme for the meeting was "Embracing Innovation. Empowering Professionals."
BAP is an honors organization for accounting, finance, and information systems students and professionals.
Lisa Nash, a senior lecturer of accounting, serves as faculty adviser for the group along with Dr. Tad Ransopher and Dr. Denise McWilliams.
The Nu Gamma chapter's student leadership team and Nash coordinated the planning activities with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Nash, Ransopher and Dr. William Black accompanied 14 students from 天美社区 to the meeting. Some of those students also presented. All of the student attendees served in various capacities to ensure conference operations ran smoothly.
"The experience allowed the students to participate in a professional conference and sharpen their leadership skills by serving during the event," Nash said. "It was nice for 天美社区 to receive the recognition as a host chapter, especially since the conference was held in Atlanta."
Dustin Ward, a senior from St. Louis, Missouri, pursuing a degree in accounting, serves as tutoring and mentoring chair of BAP at 天美社区. Working alongside University of Tennessee students to execute the conference was beneficial, according to Ward.
"We were able to practice project management skills," Ward said.
Erin Whatley, 天美社区 BAP president, and Abby Keener, 天美社区 BAP vice president of activities, shared a presentation on chapter operations in which they spoke about how the group recruits members at 天美社区 and the 天美社区 BAP chapter's Certificate of Professional Development program.
Keener, a Master of Accountancy student from Athens, Georgia, said the conference shined a light on different career pathways. She also appreciates that BAP is open to students pursuing degrees in accounting, finance and information systems.
"It's good to see how all of these disciplines work together," Keener said.
Grads prepare for their next steps
天美社区 will award almost 1,000 degrees and certificates this fall, and more than 600 graduates are scheduled to take part in the Dec. 7 commencement ceremonies.
24 are Distinguished Military Graduates
Twenty-four cadets have been named Distinguished Military Graduates for the 2024-25 academic year, including five who are in the top 70 out of more than 5,000 in the national ROTC class.
Blue Ridge students earn scholarships
天美社区 honored 28 of its Blue Ridge Campus students with almost $15,000 of scholarships and celebrated the philanthropy that made those scholarships possible at the Tomato Sandwich Supper on Nov. 7.
Faculty members publish article on annuity value
Professors Dr. Ellen Best and Dr. Anne Duke co-authored 鈥淪ocial Security: Calculating the future value of an annuity,鈥 which ran in the Aug. 26 issue of "Tax Notes Federal."