Richard E. Hurley Receives National Educator Award

July 29, 2014

Richard E. Hurley, Ph.D., JD, CPA, CFE, CFF, received the prestigious National Educator Award from the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) on July 17th, 2013. Dr. Hurley’s award was presented at the Association’s Annual Professional Development Conference (PDC) training event in Dallas.

The AGA Educator Award was formally established to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions to educating and training government financial managers for more than two decades.

Dr. Hurley received this award in recognition of his vast contributions to the education and training of accountability professionals and students in advancing financial management. His presentations, courses and writings cover a wide range of accountability topics and his expertise as a practitioner and university professor is quite evident. He consistently receives excellent evaluations of his work and is well-respected in the field of government financial management. Dr. Hurley is a member of the AGA New York Capital Chapter.

Dr. Hurley has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York for 30 years and has also been a licensed Attorney in the State of New York for over 35 years and is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Tax Court.

He has written the Fraud Edge column for Fraud Magazine, which is a column devoted to fraud education for the benefit of academics and practitioners, and he currently co-authors a column entitled Global Fraud Focus.

He is also a member of the New York Society of CPAs and is a member of the Forensic Litigation Services Committee of the State Society and a member of the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Committee.

Dr. Hurley has written and presented in the field of accounting and security fraud and auditing issues related to fraud detection and prevention. Dr. Hurley teaches MBA courses in Financial Accounting and Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination for the University of Connecticut in Stamford, Connecticut where he has been a professor for 14 years.

Accounting Department Welcomes New Faculty Members

The University of Connecticut has embarked on an ambitious hiring initiative to expand its faculty and senior academic leadership across disciplines, investing in 500 tenure-track faculty positions over the next four years.

As a result of this initiative, the Accounting Department is delighted to welcome two new faculty members in the 2013-2014 academic year. These new faculty bring a diverse array of expertise and research interests to the school and our students.

Paul Glotzer joins the faculty after serving as an adjunct lecturer in the Accounting Department of the UConn School of Business since 2012. Prior to UConn, Paul served as project manager at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Prior to FASB, he served as director of accounting and auditing at Shein, Cohen, Palmer & Company, LLC, for twenty years. Paul also worked as a manager at Kostin Ruffkess & Company for ten years subsequent to working as a staff accountant for three years at Troub, Glotzer, & Company.

Paul’s areas of expertise include: U.S. GAAP and its application to financial statement preparation, audits, reviews, and compilations; income tax planning and compliance for corporations, partnerships, and individuals; and payroll and sales taxes. He has also published in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Journal of Accountancy. In addition to his affiliation with the AICPA, Paul is a very active member in the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants where he currently serves or has served on several committees, including Technical Reviewer and Chair of the Accounting and Reporting Standards Committee; the Board of Governors; Compilation and Review Committee; Professional Ethics Committee; Peer Reviewer; Management of an Accounting Practice Committee and Relations with Secondary School Committee. He was also voted Committee Member of the Year for 2000-2001. Paul is a CPA and graduated with High Honors from the University of Connecticut in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree Accounting. He is also the new faculty advisor to the Accounting Society at UConn.

Arthur Schmeiser joins the UConn faculty after serving 38 years at Deloitte & Touche LLP where he retired as a senior partner. Art served clients in a variety of industries but had a focus on clients in consumer businesses such as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Procter & Gamble, Saks 5th Avenue, Sears, Talbots, The May Department Stores Company and Timberland. In addition to his client work, he has held various leadership positions within D&T, both domestically and internationally. He has broad experience in Securities and Exchange Commission [including serving as an SEC fellow from 1979 to 1981] and other accounting and reporting requirements having been involved with numerous initial public offerings, secondary offerings, public merger filings and public and private company audits. He has extensive experience dealing with Boards of Directors, Audit Committees and Senior Executives of U.S public companies in accounting and reporting areas, along with strategic acquisition and other business matters.

Art is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Society of Certified Public Accountants in the states of Connecticut and New York. Art earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from St. John’s University in 1971.

Accounting Department and Students Honored by CTCPA Educational Trust Fund Program

In early November the CTCPA Educational Trust Fund (ETF) honored our Accounting Department, the Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the UConn Accounting Society, and the UConn Student Chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants at the ETF’s annual awards banquet. The grants provided by the ETF help the Department and these three outstanding student organizations continue the many activities that make our program so successful and give those organizations the ability to expand those activities.

In addition to the above, Hasudin Pehratovic, a Junior accounting major won the Frank Frago Community Service award, given in remembrance of the late Frank Frago, a past President of the CTCPA Society. This is a competitive, state-wide award which requires applicants to submit an essay describing their community services activities.

Lastly, this summer Chris Brown ‘13 (MSA expected in May 2014) was selected to receive the ETF’s Merit Award for Academic Excellence. Chris is one of the many outstanding graduates of our 2013 accounting class and will be starting with Deloitte & Touche in the fall of 2014 after he completes our MSA program.

Congratulations to all of these students and their organizations-you make us very proud.

Accounting Department Develops an Online Advanced Certificate Bridge Program

The Department is frequently asked by graduate students and individuals in the work force with business degrees (as well as some who have non-business undergraduate degrees), if they can apply to our online masters of accounting (MSA) program. Unfortunately we usually have to decline because they have not taken the prerequisite undergraduate accounting courses. The next question they ask is whether they can take these required courses online at UConn. Soon we will be able to say yes!

The Accounting Department’s online Advanced Certificate and Bridge (ACB) program will offer four comprehensive accounting courses covering financial reporting, assurance services, and taxation over a one year period that, when completed, will result in a Certificate in Accounting. Applicants must have an undergraduate degree (any major) and have completed introductory financial and managerial accounting courses. After completing the ACB program, they can apply to our MSA program and receive credit for two of the ACB courses.

We think the online format of our ACB program will have broad appeal. As program director Amy Dunbar points out, “We are the leaders in online accounting education with our successful online MSA program. We will use our expertise to develop a quality online ACB program that addresses the needs of two constituencies; individuals who just want more accounting education than they currently have and those who would like to use the accounting courses as a bridge to an MSA program. We think the market place will welcome this program not only for the quality of its content, but because the courses can be completed by students anywhere.”

The program has been approved at the School of Business level. There are still other approvals required at the University level, but we hope to have the program up and running by the fall of 2014. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting opportunity for the Department.

Alum Lee Schlesinger ’82 Awarded the Mary H. Connolly Community Caring Award

The United Way of Naugatuck and Beacon Falls had more to celebrate at its 50th annual meeting than the organization’s golden anniversary.

The United Way exceeded its 2012 campaign goal by $15,000 and raised a total of $440,000, said Laurie Yelding, campaign chairwoman.

The evening’s highest honor — the Mary H. Connolly Community Caring Award — was given to Lee Schlesinger ’82. The Mary H. Connolly Community Caring Award is presented annually to recognize an individual or individuals who have demonstrated outstanding support to the United Way and the entire community and who have set the standard for service to the community.

Schlesinger, a Naugatuck native who now lives in Waterbury, is the associate director for Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury. Twenty years ago, he worked for Naugatuck Valley Savings and Loan. At the time, he was approached by Mary Connolly, who was the executive director of the United Way, about volunteering.

“Mary has that kind of personality where you just do not say no to her,” Schlesinger said. Schlesinger didn’t say no. He served on the United Way’s Board of Directors for two terms. He was treasurer for nine years and a member of the Allocations Committee, which controls the distribution of funds to local service agencies.

Schlesinger’s volunteerism extends beyond the United Way. He served as president of the board of directors of the Morris Foundation, which provided mental health and addiction services and is now part of Wellmore. For the past 12 years, he has been co-chairman of the Finance Committee for the American Cancer Society – Greater Waterbury Relay for Life. Lee has also been an event volunteer for Special Olympics’ Penguin Plunge. He was the recipient of the United Way of Naugatuck & Beacon Falls Van Allen Medal in 2012 and Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence – First 100 Plus – honoring male leaders from across the state who have worked to raise awareness of the availability and access to domestic violence services in Connecticut. He also received the Volunteer Award from Morris Foundation.

“My first and sustained impression of Lee over the years is what an incredibly kind, compassionate and decent soul this is,” said Kevin DelGobbo, who introduced Schlesinger.

Schlesinger thanked Connolly for asking him to volunteer all those years ago and said he was honored to be recognized. “It is such an honor to even be considered for this award among the distinguished previous recipients,” he said.

Advisory Council Welcomes New Member

July 28, 2014

Stanley Veliotis, Ph.D. ’07

Stan Veliotis is an associate professor at the Fordham University Schools of Business. He received his Ph.D. from UConn’s School of Business in 2007 and then joined Fordham, teaching taxation and accounting. Before entering academia, he worked at law firms on business litigation, corporate and tax matters, and at two of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG (New York and Paris) and Ernst & Young (New York). With nearly a decade in the Big Four, Stan specialized in the taxation of international employee compensation. His law and CPA licenses, as well as his certified equity professional designation, have remained continuously active. Empirical research areas in which he has published extensively include insider trading, earnings management, and the effect of tax law on taxpayer and market behavior. His policy work includes various inefficiencies of the tax law. His law degrees are from NYU (LLM) and Fordham (JD) and his Bachelors is from Baruch College CUNY.

The Tailgating Tradition Continues on Homecoming Weekend

The Accounting Department’s annual tailgating party on Saturday, October 12th was our biggest and best yet! Over 300 alumni and their families packed the tent from 10:00 until noon prior to the Homecoming football game against the University of South Florida Bulls. As if the great weather and all of this fantastic company wasn’t enough, we also had a rousing visit from the UConn Alumni Marching Band! Keep your eyes peeled next September for our 2014 event!

UConn School of Business Announces New Graduate Human Resource Management Programs

July 11, 2014

The UConn School of Business just announced two new graduate programs in Human Resource Management available to students starting this fall – the Master of Science in Human Resource Management (MSHRM) and the Advanced Business Certificate in Human Resource Management.

Following a rigorous academic review by the Management Department and subsequent approval by School of Business faculty, the programs were officially approved by the UConn Board of Trustees on June 25, 2014. Applications to the program are currently being accepted for the fall cohort.

Stemming from the former Master of Professional Studies in Human Resource Management, an online-only program previously offered by UConn’s Center for Continuing Studies, the new programs are offered by the business school in a hybrid learning format that incorporates the flexibility of online education with the interactivity and connectivity of on-campus seminars.

“Every course in the program has been updated and several new courses have been added to facilitate greater integration across the curriculum and collaborative learning among members of the cohort,” said Greg Reilly, assistant professor and academic director for UConn’s Graduate Programs in Human Resource Management.

“We are delighted to deliver opportunities for human resource professionals to expand their education through the School of Business,” said Dean John Elliott.

MSHRM Degree

The MS in Human Resource Management (MSHRM) is a 33-credit, part-time program designed for professionals seeking skills to effectively lead and manage the complexity of human resources in a dynamic global environment. The program design enables students to focus on a single course each seven-week accelerated session while completing the program in 22 months with their cohort. Each session includes two integrated Saturday Seminars at UConn’s Graduate Business Learning Center in downtown Hartford.

The Graduate Programs in HRM are built upon a foundation of comprehensive curriculum designed specifically to develop strategic HR competencies in a collaborative learning environment of high-achieving peers and accomplished faculty. The curriculum reflects the skills needed for HR leaders to be partners with senior management, including core business areas such as business acumen, risk management, metrics and analytics, negotiation and ethical leadership.

Advanced Business Certificate in Human Resource Management

The Advanced Business Certificate in Human Resource Management is a 12-credit option for students seeking a concentration or detailed study in Human Resources, either as an addition to their existing graduate studies, or as an entry to graduate business degrees. Expected completion time for the certificate is two semesters. The certificate is designed to support students who choose to transition from the certificate to the MSHRM program as well.

More information about UConn’s Graduate Programs in Human Resource Management can be found at http://hrm.business.uconn.edu or HRM@business.uconn.edu.

UConn Executive MBAs Experience Business in South Africa

July 10, 2014

Executive MBA South AfricaEach year, a team of UConn’s Executive MBA (EMBA) students travel abroad to enrich their experience and understanding of global business issues. As part of the curriculum, the international study trip enables participants to experience firsthand how concepts and theories learned in the classroom are applied in the global arena.

The program’s latest destination was South Africa, a diverse, emerging global market that serves as the gateway to the African continent. Students returned equipped with new knowledge and insights, having visited with executives from an array of companies and industries. The business visits covered discussions on topics such as investments in the country, banking, business ownership, and various challenges and opportunities:

“Investing in South Africa: High risk or High Return?”
Mteto Nyati, Managing Director, Microsoft

“Finance and Banking in South Africa”
Carolina Reddy, Head of Distribution and Sales, Standard Bank

“Challenges and Opportunities in the South African Real Estate Industry”
David Stoll, Regional Head and Martin Kearns, Development Executive at Victoria and Albert Waterfront, both of Growth Point

“Retail Strategies for Low-Income Population”
Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, Transformation Director, Pick n Pay

“Labor Market Challenges in South Africa”
Nico Grobbelaar, Executive Director of Human Resources, Paarl Media Group

“Building a Successful Business in South Africa”
Tony Gerrans, CEO, Grotto

“The Wine Industry in South Africa”
Gary Jordan, Owner, Jordan Wines

While in South Africa, students also explored its cultural history. One of the cultural highlights was The Apartheid Museum—the first of its kind—illustrating the rise and fall of apartheid, the system of racial segregation in South Africa that blighted much of its progress for half a century. EMBA students were also able to visit Robben Island; where Nelson Mandela served his prison term for his rebellion against the Apartheid regime.

A guided tour of Johannesburg and Soweto—an urban section of the city—immersed the EMBAs in its turbulent history and diversity of people and cultures.

“Understanding the history and culture of a country in which you conduct business is critical,” said Noel Petrolati, a current EMBA student. “I knew it was important, but to see and experience South Africa’s turbulent past and to see its economic development was enlightening,” she said.