AICPA awards scholarships to minority doctoral students

In an effort to increase the number of CPAs from diverse backgrounds teaching at the higher education level, the AICPA has awarded twenty-two scholars the Minority Doctoral Fellowship.

Funded by the AICPA Foundation, the Fellowship awards $12,000 each to full-time minority accounting scholars who are well on their way to becoming accounting educators. 

“One of the best ways to increase diversity in the profession is to ensure that young people who are considering accounting careers have access to CPAs from diverse backgrounds,” said Kim Drumgo, AICPA director of diversity and inclusion and vice chair of the National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, in a statement. “The Minority Doctoral Fellowship helps strengthen the pipeline of accounting educators and provides young people with role models and mentors in the classroom.”

“By pursing their doctorate degree in accounting, the recipients of the AICPA Minority Doctoral Fellowship are helping secure the future of the profession,” stated Steve Matzke, AICPA director of college and university initiatives. “In addition to helping increase the number of accounting faculty in classrooms across the country, they are encouraging future generations of minority CPAs to join the profession.”

The 2014-2015 AICPA Minority Doctoral Fellowship recipients are listed below, in alphabetical order: 

• Herita A. Akamah (University of Oklahoma)
• Brandon D. Ater (Virginia Tech)
• Maurice Atkinson (Michigan State University)
• Joye L. Baugh (Jackson State University)
• Lydia N. Didia (Jackson State University)
• Brent A. Garza (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
• Michelle Harding (The University of Virginia)
• Oscar J. Harvin (Florida Atlantic University)
• Chevonne Herring (University of Mississippi)
• Ethan G. LaMothe (University of South Carolina)
• Thomas F. Lewis, Jr. (Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Makila C. A. Major (University of Memphis)
• Sydnee Manley (University of Mississippi)
• Rachel Martin (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Christopher Alan Miller (University of Mississippi)
• Patricia Navarro (University of Central Florida)
• Porschia Nkansa (University of Memphis)
• Rebeca Perez (University of Oregon)
• Genese Rogers (Morgan State University)
• Delvin D. Seawright (Morgan State University)
• Justin Cole Short (University of Tennessee)
• Kecia Smith (Texas A&M University)

The Fellowship is available to ethnic minorities who have obtained or plan to pursue a CPA license who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Candidates can apply on the AICPA website here. (The 2015-16 application will launch in January 2015, with an application deadline of April 1, 2015.)