Foundation’s remembrance scholarship assists along the way

Michele Meckfessel, CPA, knows not everyone flies a straight path toward their ultimate destination. Hers has been a winding journey that has recently taken a sharp turn toward academia.

An Illinois native, Meckfessel majored in math and minored in physics at Illinois Wesleyan University. After earning her undergraduate degree, she had no immediate intention of returning to the classroom.
 
Instead, upon graduation, Meckfessel entered Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS), a 17-week boot camp to prep candidates for Navy flight school.

She graduated and eventually earned her way into the pilot seat of a Seahawk, the Navy’s equivalent of a Blackhawk. Meckfessel served on two full-length deployments, primarily running counter-drug operations in the Caribbean.

While Meckfessel was proud to serve her country and still does, she underwent a critical turning point in her career when the Navy assigned her to assist with Virginia Military Institute’s (VMI) transition to a coed institution.

“It was there that I discovered that I liked teaching,” Meckfessel said. “That’s what initially set me on this path.”

When Meckfessel’s active duty ended in 2000, she moved with her husband to North Carolina for his career. At that point, Meckfessel says she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, aside from reserve duty.

Little did she know that performing a routine civic duty would provide a strong clue. While navigating her increasingly complex tax return forms with her CPA one year, Meckfessel found she was equally baffled and intrigued. It was enough to chart another wide turn in her course, and she applied to Appalachian State University to pursue a master’s degree in taxation.

“At first, it was mostly a self-preservation tactic,” she said, “but I discovered that I really, really liked it.”

Throughout the master’s process, Meckfessel’s professors planted new seeds for pursuing a Ph.D. in the future. But first she opted to sit for the CPA Exam and gain some experience in the field.

Landing a job at McGladrey & Pullen in North Carolina, and eventually making her way to Grant Thornton in Charlotte, she concentrated mostly on tax consulting at both firms, performing special project tax work, corporate tax, due diligence, research and experimentation and tax credit studies.

While she was busy gaining experience and insight in public accounting, Meckfessel’s life took another significant turn — toward motherhood. She gave birth to her daughter, Margaret, within her first year at McGladrey. A year and a half later, Jack was born. Struggling with a rigorous travel schedule, Meckfessel wanted to spend less time on the road and more time with her two children. Making another big career move, she decided to pursue her Ph.D. at Virginia Tech.

With the support of her husband, who altered his career path to help his wife pursue hers, Meckfessel moved the family to Blacksburg.

“It’s been a strange route getting here,” Meckfessel says. “If you’d have asked me 10 years ago, I could have never imagined this. It was nowhere in the realm of possibilities. But it just fits.”

Now in her second year of the Ph.D. program, Meckfessel is engrossed in research and teaching.

“It’s like a constant feeling of being overwhelmed,” she laughs. And it was even more difficult her first year, when she took and taught classes, performed research and cared for both a toddler and a newborn at home. But to Meckfessel, the end result is worth the time, sacrifice and, yes, sleep deprivation.

She’s passionate about teaching, and just as passionate about the subject matter. In fact, her excitement is truly palpable when she discusses her research, which, just like her career path, has taken an “interesting twist.”

While her teaching is still concentrated on taxation, her research examines the presentation of textual content versus financial numbers to determine whether textual context can indicate and predict firm performance above and beyond the numbers. Which source is more predictive of firm earnings? What are investors — institutional and individual — more interested in?

The profession is in need of top-notch Ph.D.s, who can inspire and prepare the next generation of CPAs for the workplace. Meckfessel is well on her way to serving the profession in this capacity.

Her dedication and promise have earned her department’s nomination for the very first VSCPA Educational Foundation Austin M. Cloyd, Matthew G. Gwaltney & Maxine S. Turner Doctoral Scholarship, which was established to honor and remember the lives of students of Virginia accounting families who were lost in the tragic events at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

For many reasons, this scholarship is special to Meckfessel, whose family set up a scholarship fund when her mother, a teacher, passed away.

“My father and sisters and I have all taken great interest and followed the careers of the recipients,” she said. “We were so proud of their successes and contributions once they completed their educations. I guess my hope would be that over the course of my career as an academic and teacher the families of Austin, Matthew and Maxine would find value in my contributions.”

As the first recipient of this poignant award, the VSCPA Educational Foundation and CPA community support Meckfessel in continuing her career path in honor of these three students whose paths were cut tragically short.

To contribute to the VSCPA Educational Foundation Austin M. Cloyd, Matthew G. Gwaltney & Maxine S. Turner Doctoral Scholarship Fund, visit www.VSCPAFoundation.com and click on “Donate Now.”