Message from the Dean

Welcome to the Patterson School of Accountancy Web site. We hope that you will take a moment to explore the site, learn about our programs, and meet our outstanding faculty and students.

Things are busy here at the Patterson School of Accountancy this spring semester. Prospects are outstanding, and our enrollment reached an all-time high this past fall with 739 students. The Patterson School continues to generate visibility for The University of Mississippi on a national basis. For four consecutive years the Ole Miss Accountancy program has been nationally ranked. This year, the undergraduate program was ranked 18th in the nation and both the master’s and doctoral programs were ranked 15th, marking the first time all three of our programs were ranked among the top twenty in the nation. In addition, we recently learned that Ole Miss is one of 39 universities selected nationally to participate in the AICPA’s new Doctoral Scholar’s Program. This program encourages accounting professionals to pursue doctorates to help alleviate the shortage of accounting professors nationally. We look forward to being a part of this prestigious program.

We are also proud of the successes of our students, and the senior year internship program continues to provide a capstone experience for many of them. During spring 2008, we had a record 69 students on internships with 25 different firms and companies in 17 cities, 8 states, and 2 countries. Spring 2009 is our sixth year to have a formal internship program, and we have another great class currently out on internships.

Please visit us when you are on campus. Mark your calendar for Accountancy Weekend, which is scheduled for April 23-25, 2009. The weekend begins with our Accountancy Awards Banquet on Thursday, April 23, and coincides with Oxford’s Double Decker Festival and a home baseball series with Georgia. The following weekend, April 30-May 2, Ole Miss will host the Southeast American Accounting Association annual meeting on the Oxford campus. That same weekend, on Friday, May 1, our student honor society will host our spring “Meet the Firms” event in conjunction with the fifth annual Beta Alpa Psi Golf Tournament. We invite you to join us for all of these events.

We consider it a true privilege to serve our students, alumni, and friends of the Patterson School. Thank you for your interest in and commitment to us.

W. Mark Wilder
Dean & KPMG Professor