Seventh Annual Accounting Academic and Service Awards Convocation

May 29, 2012


On Tuesday, May 15, 2012, the Department of Accounting and Taxation faculty in the Tobin College of Business held their Seventh Annual Academic and Service Awards Convocation in the D’Angelo Center, Room 416 at 5:00 pm.  Fr. Patrick Flanagan gave the invocation. Victoria Shoaf, dean of the Tobin College of Business, and Dr. Adrian Fitzsimons, chair of the Department of Accounting and Taxation, made the opening remarks.

Department faculty presented Certificates of Academic Excellence and Certificates of Recognition for Service to undergraduate seniors and graduate students.   Among the faculty presenting awards were:  Professors Patrick Colabella, Timothy Coville, Teresa Danile, Nina Dorata, Hilmi Elifoglu, Adrian Fitzsimons, Sylwia Gornik-Tomaszewski, John Lynch, Laura Lee Mannino, Irene McCarthy, Cynthia Phillips, Biagio Pilato, Maria Pirrone, Benjamin Silliman and Joseph Trainor.   Many families of the recipients were in attendance.


On the graduate level, eighteen students who graduated in September 2011, January 2012 or May 2012 and achieved an accounting or taxation GPA of 3.9 to 4.0 were award Platinum Certificates.  Andy Cohen and David Rubenstein from WeiserMazars awarded James Finnegan, the undergraduate student with the highest GPA in Accounting and Taxation with a plaque and gift check.   In addition, Mr. Finnegan was also awarded the Catholic Accountants’ Guild plaque.  The Catholic Accountants’ Guild plaque has been awarded to the undergraduate accounting student at St. John’s with the highest accounting and overall grade point average since the 1940s.

On the undergraduate level, nine students who achieved a grade point average (GPA) of 3.75 to 3.89 in their accounting major were awarded Bronze Certificates of Achievement; eight students who achieved a 3.9 to 3.99 accounting GPA were awarded Silver Certificates and seven students who achieved a 4.0 accounting GPA were awarded Gold Certificates. 

After the academic presentations were concluded, students were presented with Service Awards for having served with excellence in the following accounting student organizations:   Beta Alpha Psi Honor Society Queens and Staten Island Chapters, the Accounting Societies of the Queens and Staten Island Campuses, the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) and the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA).

Students who had represented the University at the Deloitte FanTAXtic Competition in October 2011 and the PricewaterhouseCoopers x-Tax Competition in November 2011 were recognized for their service to the Department as were those students who participated in the KPMG Business Competition. To conclude the event, students were invited to reflect on their experience in the program.

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About the Peter J. Tobin College of Business
The Peter J. Tobin College of Business has provided a high-quality business education for over eighty years, offering individuals from throughout the world the opportunity to study in New York’s dynamic business environment.  The innovative curriculum emphasizes an analytic and hands-on understanding of business practice that prepares graduates to excel in today’s global marketplace.

For more information about this or other programs at the Peter J. Tobin College of Business, please contact Asia Hauter at (718) 990-6218 or hautera@stjohns.edu.