May 4, 2016
Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation endows Ed Boyle Accounting Professorship
St. Mary’s University has received a $750,000 gift from the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation to endow the Ed Boyle Accounting Professorship.
The funds will be solely devoted to recruiting or retaining a full-time, tenure-track faculty member who will promote the study of accounting principles, business knowledge and more, at a time when accounting professors are in high demand.
The University seeks an experienced and distinguished scholar who has an understanding of servant leadership and a desire to advance scholarship and teaching. The professorship will ensure the Accounting program – the largest major in the Greehey School of Business – remains at the forefront of industry standards.
“This transformational gift will have a tremendous impact on the future of our accounting program,” said University President Thomas Mengler, J.D. “Without the exceptional faculty members who carry out the important work of educating exceptional leaders, our students would not enjoy the same robust academic experience that attracts them to St. Mary’s. Through this professorship, the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation has helped safeguard this legacy for the next generation of accounting students.”
The professorship is named after alumnus Ed Boyle (B.B.A. ’71), the Chief Financial Officer of Coates Energy. He has been with Coates Energy for 35 years. Boyle served on the St. Mary’s Alumni Association Board of Directors and on the University’s Board of Trustees, as well as several other roles.
“My time as a student at St. Mary’s University is one of those times that was etched in my memory,” Boyle said in October after accepting the 2015 Distinguished Alumni award. “It was full of people who worked hard to provide opportunities for others, so that they might improve their lives and better serve the communities in which they lived.”
Nationwide, accounting professors are retiring at an unprecedented rate – much faster than they are being replaced. Many qualified personnel are choosing the higher salaries of accounting firms over the cost of pursuing a Ph.D. In response, accounting faculty salaries have risen. The gift provides resources that will attract an exceptional professor and directly benefit the more than 100 Accounting students in the Greehey School of Business.
In 2014, St. Mary’s introduced an Accounting and Data Analytics program. The “Big Data” degree includes 120 hours of accounting curriculum and an additional 30 hours in data analytics to meet the employment needs of large local companies such as USAA, Southwest Research Institute, Rackspace, H-E-B and Valero.
Four major accounting firms – Ernst & Young, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG – have offices in San Antonio, and three recruit students from St. Mary’s.