MURFREESBORO — With more than 30 years
of service molding future accountants as a member of the Jones College of
Business faculty, Dr. Paula Thomas was honored Friday as the 13th
recipient of the Career Achievement Award during MTSU’s Fall Faculty meeting at
Tucker Theatre.
Thomas holds
the Deloitte Foundation Professorship in Accounting, an honor “that reflects
her success in instilling knowledge and professionalism in students and
preparing them for careers,” University Provost Brad Bartel said.
In
accepting the award from the MTSU Foundation, the Fayetteville, Tennessee,
native said her position at MTSU had “allowed me to do things I had never
dreamed of … It’s provided me a career, opened doors and allowed me to pursue
opportunities in the accounting profession and accounting education well beyond
our campus.”
After
starting her professional year as an accountant in Nashville, Thomas caught the
teaching bug after teaching night courses in accounting at a community college
and decided to pursue an academic career. Her research on cash-balance pensions
was a resource for IBM employees who were concerned about their reduced pension
benefits resulting from IBM’s pension plan conversions.
At MTSU, Thomas has previously served as a department chair, has
worked on accounting curriculum at the national level through a variety of
professional organizations, and currently serves as faculty adviser for Beta Alpha Psi,
an international honors organization for financial information students and
professionals. Last year, the group’s service and professional activities
earned it “Superior Chapter” status, Beta Alpha Psi’s highest designation.
Thomas thanked her husband, Earl, also a member of the business
faculty, and her three children for supporting her while also praising current
and former colleagues, administrators and students “for allowing me to be a
part of their lives and allowing me to see their successes. That’s really the
most rewarding part of my job.”
Other faculty awards
Other faculty members were also honored during Friday’s meeting. Presented by alumna Kathy Jones (B.S.
’83), current president of the MTSU Foundation, the five recipients of the 2014
Outstanding Teacher Award are:
- Dr. Heather J. Brown, Department of Concrete Industry Management.
- Dr. Rebecca M. Fischer, speech-language pathology and audiology,
Department of Health and Human Performance.
- Associate professor Sisavanh Houghton, Department of Art.
- Dr. Victor J. Montemayor, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
- Dr. Nathan C. Phillips, horticulture, School of Agribusiness and
Agriscience.
The 13 additional MTSU
Foundation Award winners for 2014 are:
- Dr. Paula Bevels Thomas, Department of Accounting – Career Achievement
Award.
- Drs. Ashley B. Morris, Department of Biology, and Ahad Nasab,
Department of Engineering Technology – Special Projects Award.
- Dr. Janis Brickey, interior design, Department of Human Sciences
- Creative Activity Award.
- Drs. Cyrille L. Magne, Department of Psychology, and Ngee Sing
Chong, Department of Chemistry – Distinguished Research Award.
- Dr. M. Dawn McCormack, Department of History – Outstanding
Teaching in General Education Award.
- Drs. Jonathan M. Bradley, Department of English; Thomas M.
Brinthaupt, Department of Psychology; and Michael S. Fleming, Department
of Recording Industry – Outstanding Achievement in Instructional
Technology Award.
- Dr. Wendy Beckman, Department of Aerospace; Nancy E.
Stubblefield, College of Mass Communication; and Dr. Jeremy Winters,
Department of Elementary and Special Education –Outstanding Public Service
Award.
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