VSCPA Educational Foundation Awards More Than $27,000 in College Scholarships

The VSCPA Educational Foundation recently selected its college scholarship recipients for the 2009–2010 academic year. The VSCPA Educational Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting business and accounting education, rewarding academic excellence and encouraging students to pursue promising careers.

This year, the VSCPA Educational Foundation awarded $27,500 to 17 accounting college students across Virginia. Awards were given in several scholarship categories, including undergraduate, minority and graduate. The Foundation also offered seven $2,500 named scholarships, three of which were new this year. Joining the Goodman & Company Annual Scholarship, H. Burton Bates Jr. Annual Scholarship, Thomas M. Berry Jr. Annual Scholarship and Yount, Hyde & Barbour Annual Scholarship are the Cocke, Szpanka & Taylor Annual Scholarship, VSCPA Ph. D. Scholarship and Austin M. Cloyd, Matthew G. Gwaltney & Maxine S. Turner Doctoral Scholarship. Applicants must be enrolled at a Virginia college or university, demonstrate academic excellence and be pursuing a career in accounting.

To qualify for a VSCPA Educational Foundation undergraduate or minority undergraduate scholarship, recipients must complete a minimum of three credit hours of accounting course work, be enrolled in three additional accounting credit hours and have an accounting GPA of 3.0. Graduate and doctoral scholarship applicants must be currently enrolled or have been accepted in a graduate or Ph.D. accounting program at a Virginia college or university. Other selection criteria for the awards include overall academic performance, entry essay, faculty recommendation(s) and community and/or extracurricular activities.

The 2009 scholarship recipients are:

Minority ($1,000):

• Alonzo Crawley of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Tamara Johnson of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Kiyoung Rector of Fredericksburg, George Mason University

Undergraduate ($1,000):

• Stephen Soltis of Vinton, Roanoke College
• Nicholas Stoltzfus of Fairfax Station, University of Virginia

Graduate ($1,000):

• Melissa Chen of Burke, University of Virginia
• Edward Lynch of Arlington, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Matthew Nuttall of Newport News, College of William & Mary
• Derek Scheidt of Harrisonburg, Virginia Tech
• Deana Sentman of Christiansburg, Radford University

Goodman & Company ($2,500):

• Noah Chang of Woodbridge, College of William & Mary

H. Burton Bates Jr. ($2,500):

• Jennifer Bayless of Fredericksburg, George Mason University

Thomas M. Berry Jr. ($2,500):

• Karl Menk of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University

Yount, Hyde & Barbour ($2,500):

• Sara Rathbone of Portsmouth, College of William & Mary

Cocke, Szpanka & Taylor Annual Scholarship ($2,500): 

• Emily Nachazel of Herndon, University of Virginia

VSCPA Ph. D. Scholarship ($2,500):

• Megan McInerney of Roanoke, Virginia Tech

Austin M. Cloyd, Matthew G. Gwaltney & Maxine S. Turner Doctoral Scholarship ($2,500):

• Michele Meckfessel of O’Fallon, Ill., Virginia Tech

The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants Educational Foundation is the premier accounting education resource promoting integrity and excellence in the CPA profession by partnering with and benefiting business, academia and society at large. For more information or to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Foundation, please visit www.vscpafoundation.com, e-mail info@vscpafoundation.com or call (800) 733-8272.

The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) is the leading professional association dedicated to enhancing the success of CPAs. Founded in 1909, the VSCPA has 8,300 members who work in public accounting, industry, government and education. The VSCPA is celebrating its Centennial anniversary this year — marking 100 years of an organized CPA profession and statewide organization uniting and representing CPAs across the Commonwealth. Visit www.vscpa.com/Centennial to learn more about the VSCPA’s Centennial Celebration. For general information, please visit the Press Room on the VSCPA website at www.vscpa.com, e-mail vscpa@vscpa.com or call (800) 733-8272. To search for a CPA in your geographic region, visit www.financialfitness.org and click on "Find a CPA."