Pam Smith
President John Peters joined NIU alums who are partners from KPMG at the Sept. 28 NIU football game. Click on the image above for a full view of the group.
by Joe King
One of the NIU College of Business’ oldest and strongest partners has created the college’s first-ever endowed professorship.
The KPMG Endowed Professorship in Accountancy was formally announced during the Sept. 28 football game between NIU and Idaho, with an on-field presentation featuring several of the NIU accounting alumni who are now partners at the firm, all of whom are helping to fund the gift.
The first NIU faculty member to hold the title of KPMG Endowed Professor is Pam Smith, who joined the faculty of the NIU Department of Accountancy in 1994. She has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and, in 2008, she received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Illinois CPA Society.
KPMG has sponsored professorship within accountancy for nearly 30 years, but this latest gift ensures that the position will be funded in perpetuity. Previous holders of the KPMG Term Professorship at NIU were John Engstrom and Donald Kieso. In fact, Kieso was the first sponsored professor in NIU history.
Smith has held the title of KPMG Professor of Accountancy since 2004, and says that it has been, and continues to be, an honor.
“I’m extremely flattered to be part of the ongoing relationship between KPMG and the Department of Accountancy,” Smith says. “The creation of this endowed professorship is just another example of the firm’s commitment to NIU, to the College of Business and to maintaining the Department of Accountancy’s legacy of excellence in accounting education.”
KPMG has long supported the NIU Department of Accountancy in variety of ways, financially and otherwise.
The firm is one of the charter members of the department’s Board of Advisors, offering advice and insight to ensure that NIU accounting graduates are up to date on the quickly evolving demands of the public accounting industry.
Executives from KPMG also give generously of their time to lecture in classes, attend “Meet the Firm” nights and participate in other activities at NIU. The firm also provided the naming gift for the department’s suite in Barsema Hall and funds scholarships for accountancy majors.
KPMG also recruits a large number of NIU accountancy students each year to participate in their national internship program and currently employs 78 NIU graduates fulltime. Among those graduates, 10 are currently partners in the firm and each has pledged his support to the named professorship.
Leaders at KPMG say they are excited to ensure that commitment will now endure indefinitely.
“NIU offers the dynamic curricula students need to succeed in today’s global economy,” says John B. Veihmeyer, chief executive officer of KPMG LLP. “And Pam Smith provides a model for students as they prepare for and begin their careers. She is an academic leader in our profession, recognized for her excellent work, and a constant advocate for ethics in business. We are honored to be associated with Pam and with NIU.”
“The Department of Accountancy has long been one of the premier programs at NIU,” NIU President John Peters says, “and we are honored that KPMG, one of the premier firms in the field of public accountancy, has chosen to support the program in such a significant and permanent manner.”
The KPMG Endowed Professorship fits nicely with the goals of the university’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, True North. That effort has raised more than $150 million for the university over the last nine years. The latest phase of that effort puts a particular emphasis on the creation of endowments.
“Gifts like the one by KPMG have a profound and long lasting impact on the university,” Peters says. “It will help to ensure that we continue to attract and retain the caliber of faculty that have made our accountancy program one of the most respected in the nation.”