Accounting
Penn State Accounting Professor, Army Veteran Receives AICPA Education Award
The award, presented by the American Institute of CPAs annually since 1985, recognizes full-time accounting professors who are outstanding educators and have achieved national recognition in the accounting profession.
Aug. 17, 2015
Dr. Mark W. Dirsmith, CPA has been named the winner of the 2015 AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. He was honored at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association (AAA), in Chicago.
The award, presented by the American Institute of CPAs annually since 1985, recognizes full-time accounting professors who are outstanding educators and have achieved national recognition in the accounting profession.
Dirsmith is the Deloitte & Touche Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the Smeal College of Business at The Pennsylvania State University. He has received numerous academic and accounting awards over his many years of service to both the education of students and to the profession.
“Mark’s national preeminence as a professor and knowledge and expertise in the area of accounting education make him a fitting recipient of this award,” said Joe Ugrin, Chair of the AICPA’s Pre-certification Education Executive Committee and professor at Kansas State University, who presented the award.
Dirsmith previously served as Deloite & Touche Professor of Accounting and Price Waterhouse Auditing Professor at Penn State. He started teaching at the university in 1975. Dirsmith has been awarded the AAA’s ABO Section Notable (Lifetime) Contribution Award in Behavioral Accounting Literature, as well as numerous academic achievement awards. He has served on various elected university, college, and departmental committees, as well as several committees of various academic and professional associations.
“He is the epitome of what the Distinguished Achievement award means, and the young minds that he has helped shape as a professor are a testament to his dedication and skill as an educator,” said Steve Matzke, AICPA director of faculty & university initiatives.
A prolific writer, Dirsmith is the author or co-author of dozens of professional articles.
He started his career as a CPA at Price Waterhouse & Co. in 1971. Dirsmith holds a doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He earned a master of science degree in accounting and information systems, also from Northwestern, and a bachelor of science degree in accounting from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Dirsmith served in the United States Army, and was stationed in Korea.