A Message from the Chair

Dear alumni and friends:

This fall, after more than a year of remote and hybrid learning, our faculty and students are finally back on campus for fully in-person instruction. Returning to campus has been a great experience, and we are delighted to see the abundant energy and enthusiasm among our students in the classroom and in their extracurricular activities.

Our student enrollment is also back on strong footing. This year, we welcomed 79 students into our Master of Science in Accounting program, one of the highest enrollments in our program’s history. Our MS Accounting students are making good progress in preparing to launch their careers. To date, many of them have secured full-time job offers and are making plans for their CPA exams.  

This is a year of recovery and reorientation as we take a step-by-step approach to returning to our pre-pandemic offerings and redesigning our curriculum to align with the new CPA Evolution model. Early this fall, we brought back in-person junior orientation and Meet the Professionals events. It was wonderful to see many of our alumni and friends at this year’s Meet the Professionals (read more here). We are grateful to many of you for your support and look forward to working with you to continue our mission of providing high-quality accounting education to our students. 

I am also happy to report that in early October our university held an in-person commencement for the graduates of the class of 2020 to celebrate their achievements. (You can view an archive of the ceremonies here.) Although this celebration was delayed by the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020, we were glad to welcome many of our graduates and their families to campus. Personally, I truly enjoyed attending this event and cheering for many of our accounting students walking across the stage.

With 2021 drawing to a close, we would like to thank you for helping us through another challenging but rewarding year. Your generous financial support for our programs is greatly appreciated. We wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season!

Feng Gu
Professor and Chair
Accounting and Law Department
University at Buffalo School of Management