BGSB Faculty, Staff, Students Pitch in at Food Bank

Walking on Marble Floors

Last summer, Dr. Sam Sedki, Professor of Accounting at St. Mary's, set off on a journey to the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai.

Dr. Sedki's first impression when he arrived at the American university campus was "wow." He was fascinated with the architectural design and of the campus site specially the very high ceilings, ornate columns, dome-like buildings and marble floors. The complex that Dr. Sedki taught in is called the "University City" and has royal guards at all four gated entrances

University City houses the American university (the flagship campus), Health Science Center, Police Science Academy and two other universities. The American University campus is like a small city of its own. On the campus there are two mini marts (7-11 type), a travel agency, barber shop, women's salon, health clinic, pharmacy, bank, and even a bowling alley. The Student Center has restaurants ranging from cafeteria-style food to fast food such as Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Duncan Donuts, Starbucks and Subway.

Faculty have fully furnished houses and villas ranging from one to four bedrooms and all have marble floors. The School of Business and Management has around 2,000 students and 81 full time faculty members. All classes are conducted in English and all use American published textbooks.

During the academic year, Dr. Sedki taught three accounting courses: Intermediate, Advanced and a new graduate course that he introduced to the graduate curriculum. He also established an Accounting and Finance club, which now has 200 student members and a sizable budget from the university.

Dr. Sedki also attended various international conferences on "Consultancy in the Gulf Cooperation Countries GCC".

One of the most prestigious events Dr. Sedki attended was the Spring graduation ceremony, which was broadcast on television. Dr. Sedki served as Graduate Student Marshal and was seated directly behind the king of the United Arab Emirates.

Summer Internships for Accounting Students

Catherine Reilly - This summer I interned at USAA in the CFO department with the asset management team. I checked depreciation on sample assets prior to the patch being implemented by the IT team and then again on the same assets. The class that I have used most in my work experience is Dr. Parzinger's Accounting Information Systems course. The knowledge obtained from the Accounting information systems class comes into play with the flowcharts used at USAA. The company uses them to show how their department functions and where everything flows together and connects. Thankfully I can understand the symbols and can read the charts without a problem. Obviously without the knowledge from Intermediate Accounting, I would not be able to understand my job and what the majority of these terms mean. Had I not taken the Accounting info systems class, I would be having a rough time!

Leslie Aragon - This summer I interned at Union Pacific Railroad Company in Omaha, NE doing an account analysis audit in the Corporate Audit Department. It was a great experience as I got to apply the foundation I have received in the classroom at St. Mary's. I was able to work with systems such as Excel, Access, SQL Server, and SAP, as well as look at various investment accounts to make sure they are being recorded and accounted for properly. What helped me through this internship was asking questions, practicing, and learning from my coworkers. My advice for fellow studentsÂ would beÂ toÂ learn as much as possible in the classroom sinceÂ that will make transitioning to the work placeÂ easier.

Stephanie Hopkins - Along with taking a summer philosophy class, I have been very busy working. I started an internship with Valero Energy on June 1, 2009. The internship is on-going and I will continue to work throughout the school year. I am currently working in the Secondary Cost department but will be transferred to another department in January. I really enjoy the work I do at Valero, and I am learning to apply the concepts I learned in the classroom. I would definitely like to work for Valero after I graduate if the opportunity arises.

Shanna Schaefer - As a student intern at AT&T, my job has been to work with different people in my department in completing customer work order billing by making adjustments, reversals, and reconciliations. My Intermediate Accounting I class taken at St. Mary's University has helped me the most in understanding the accounts involved and its purpose in making every account balance at the end of the period. My Entrepreneurial Studies class taken at St. Mary's University has influenced me in a positive way by teaching me the importance of teamwork in completing customer work orders on time. My future plan is to graduate with a BBA in Accounting at St. Mary's University and continue to use my knowledge, abilities, and positive attitude to succeed in my accounting career, education, and in life.

Chris Vinson - This summer I worked for Tesoro as an internal auditor. My department focused more on evaluating business processes rather than the accuracy of financial statement balances as would an external auditor. I have had a great experience with Tesoro this summer and would certainly recommend them to my fellow St. Mary's students. Aside from just working all day, Tesoro set up several events for the summer interns such as a bowling night, a Missions game, and we even spent a day at the Children's Museum on a community service trip. I found that basic accounting knowledge was essential to this job; but the ability to learn and adapt is even more important. Being able to look at unfamiliar documents, processes, software, etc. and adapt what you've learned in the past was a great challenge.

Elvira Camargo, St. Mary's Alum - Bachelor's in Accounting December, 2008
Immediately after graduation, I began an audit internship with Fisher, Herbst and Kemble P.C. here in San Antonio. If you haven't completed an internship then I want to stress to you that a spring internship is very demanding and if you are not on your feet and attentive the work can seem daunting. As an audit intern I traveled all over San Antonio and to surrounding towns outside of San Antonio performing various audit procedures. I worked along side partners of the firm as well as senior staff members. I learned that during such a busy season with very little time for one on one training, the best way to learn is to constantly ask questions every step of the way. Being in the audit field, the courses I consider to have prepared me most were auditing, intermediate accounting and finance. Especially during the planning meetings, understanding management assumptions and the different types of risk being tested is crucial. Preparing preliminary analytics requires a lot of ratios and understanding of industry trends, and knowing how various accounts work utilizes a lot of intermediate accounting and finance knowledge.

I enjoy working for FHK and am grateful for their faith in me and the time they take to help me learn more about my profession. This internship has been quite an experience and I am starting to feel more confident in my abilities. I am moving up to regular staff and will be doing more work this fall. I am currently also enrolled in the Professional Accounting Track in the St. Mary's MBA Program.

Princeton Review Ranks St. Mary's Bill Greehey School of Business Among Top 10 for Best Opportunity for Women

The Princeton Review has again ranked St. Mary's University's Bill Greehey School of Business and its M.B.A. program in the top 10 nationally for "Greatest Opportunity for Women" in the latest edition of its publication, The Best 301 Business Schools: 2010 Edition, which hit bookstores this week.

This is the third year in a row that the Bill Greehey School of Business has been recognized. This year the school has moved up two slots to number six; and, it is also the only school in the Southwest in this category.

The ranking is based on the percent of female students, the percent of faculty who are women, and results of the student assessments of a variety of factors including resources for female students and how supportive the culture is of female students.

"This honor is especially important to us as it comes when St. Mary's M.B.A. program is celebrating its 50th anniversary," said Bill Greehey School of Business Dean Tanuja Singh, Ph.D. "We strive to offer a rich academic environment where individualized experiences are designed to instill ethical leadership, technical excellence, global awareness and professional orientation in our graduates."

St. Mary's Bill Greehey School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Its unique, stand-out programs include a five-year combined Bachelor and Master of Business Administration program, a one-year accelerated M.B.A. program, a graduate and undergraduate study abroad program in Innsbruck, the Center for Global Business Studies, the Algur H. Meadows Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the joint the J.D./M.B.A. degree program.

St. Mary's School of Law was also featured in The Princeton Review's other guide, The Best 172 Law Schools: 2010 Edition.

The Princeton Review does not rank the business or the law schools in the books on a single hierarchical list, or name one school as best overall.Instead, the book has 11 ranking lists of the top 10 business and law schools in various categories. Ten lists are based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the schools profiled in the book. The surveys were conducted during the 2008-2009, 2007-2008, and 2006-2007 academic years. For more information or to see the complete lists, click here.

St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. St. Mary's University is ranked fourth in the West Region for quality and value in the "Great Schools, Great Prices" category of the U.S. News & World Report's 2010 edition of "America's Best Colleges."

St. Mary's Service Immersion Trip

Reesa Cerda, an IB major, was one of 11 participants in the service immersion program that took place from May 11 to May 24, 2009. Here is her journal:

An excerpt from my travel journal: Otuzco, Peru May 19, 2009

There are not any words to describe what I have learned from the Peruvian people. I have spent the past two days with AMAs (Asociacin Marianista de Accin Socal) and experienced their passion for educating the villages on how to live healthier lives. Ronal, Manuel, and Sister Catalina have treated me like family, no questions asked. Yesterday at breakfast I sat quiet and timid not knowing what to expect; little did I realize that I was about to put my gifts to work. We started out driving up the mountain and just when you think there couldn't possibly be civilization, another village! Peru is such a beautiful country full of vivid color and elegance as if mankind had yet to set eyes on it. The population here lives in poverty according to our standards, but to them this is the rich life God made for them.

We arrived at a church in LLun where we held a workshop for representatives of different communities. Some of these people walked hours to attend, which illustrated their thirst to be educated not only for themselves, but for their future communities. It began with prayer followed by a PowerPoint presentation on the importance of water for the human body. Now one wouldn't think that setting up such technology would be an issue but several of the different places where we held workshops did not have electricity, therefore we had to be creative when it came to the presentation and ice breakers. During the break Gabriel and I engaged the group on a game much like the one played on Rattler Awakening Retreats. The objective was to build community among the villagers and explain that together with support from each other and AMAs, their quality of life can grow in abundance. After lunch we put theory into practice as we walked to the town's water reservoir and explained the structure, maintenance, and importance of testing the chlorine levels. I truly feel that without the hard work of AMAs the people of the Andes Mountains would be without safe drinking water for all aspects of their lives. Peruvians rely heavily on the farmland, animals, plant life, and systems of water. If contamination remains, then this beautiful country will wither away.

After the long days came to a close we sat down to dinner and shared ideas and laughs, while dealing with miscommunications due to language barriers, yet there was a feeling of complete connection with everyone. After spending a few days with the AMAs team I came to realize that they all shared the same focus, motivation, and purpose; to teach the living to survive-richly through community support, education, and dedication. It was brought to my attention that it is not my academic knowledge that was of value during these days but my common sense, problem solving skills, and commitment to help the communities understand what we as Americans take for granted every second: sanitary drinking water. At the end of each session I stood up and apologized for myself and for the people in my life that sometimes don't realize how wasteful our culture is. They may not understand what the point of that was, but for me I had to acknowledge my faults and profess that I would change the way I view our fragile planet, starting with my community back in Texas.