Alumni Provide Margin of Excellence for Accounting Program

Oswego’s already great accounting program can only get better, thanks to alumni support through the Center for Accounting Research and Education, or CARE.

At the national Beta Alpha Psi conference in Denver, SUNY Oswego students, from left, Michael Kohn ’12, Gary Gregory ’12, Bryant Tyler ’12 and Lindsay Martell ’11 accepted a $5,000 ethics award on behalf of the college’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, which is supported by CARE.

The center, which aims to financially support student and faculty development within the five-year accounting/MBA program, received a huge boost recently with an extremely generous gift to the program from PwC’s U.S. chairman and senior partner, Bob Moritz ’85.

Moritz’s donation will enhance CARE’s mission to support faculty research, diversity initiatives, continuing professional education, community outreach, social responsibility and ethical training in the accounting field.

Fostering diversity is important to Moritz, who makes that a focus of his leadership at PwC.

CARE funds enable high school seniors from underserved populations to explore possible careers in accounting at a four-day summer residency program Oswego sponsors in collaboration with the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

The program, in its third year, has already inspired some students to enroll at Oswego to pursue an accounting degree, said Dean Richard Skolnik.

CARE funds the participation of underrepresented students in a summer math camp on campus, which sets the stage for future success by giving them a head start on math skills so important to the profession.

CARE also supports a workshop for community college faculty and advisers to improve the transfer of underrepresented students to Oswego.

Jeff Gibbs ’80, vice president of Biogen Idec, was an early supporter of the CARE program.

“I think Oswego provided me with an excellent education and as a result I feel I’ve had a good career,” he said at the time. “I wanted to give back.”

With accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the School of Business supports an award-winning chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, a national accounting honor society for seniors and graduate students. A major CARE initiative helps send students to the Beta Alpha Psi national conference each year.

Donations to support CARE may be made to the Oswego College Foundation, 215 Sheldon Hall, Oswego, NY 13126 or at oswego.edu/givenow.

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