Invest in the future of the profession!
In 1921, John Cromwell Jr. became the first Black CPA in the United States. In honor of this, the VSCPA Educational Foundation established the Curtis C. Duke and Dr. Ruth Coles Harris Scholarship in 2021 to celebrate the centennial of Cromwell's historic step. Curtis C. Duke and Dr. Ruth Coles Harris were the first Black male and female CPAs in Virginia.
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According to the AICPA’s “2019 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits,” only 2% of CPAs and only 9% of bachelor’s and master’s accounting enrollees are Black.
Our goal by establishing this scholarship is to encourage and support underrepresented students in the pursuit of the CPA profession — a profession, as you know, that is personally, professionally and financially rewarding. The Curtis C. Duke and Dr. Ruth Coles Harris Scholarship is awarded annually to racially and ethnically underrepresented college students with an emphasis on Black students at this time. Together, we can increase these staggering percentages and build a more diverse pipeline into the profession.
Would you like to leave an important legacy for future CPAs and this amazing profession? Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to the Curtis C. Duke and Dr. Ruth Coles Harris Scholarship fund today! Thank you to our founding donors for this scholarship fund.
Learn more about available scholarships here.
Check out this short clip from our VSCPA Leading Forward podcast with VSCPA past Chair Anne Hagen, CPA, to hear more about this scholarship campaign.