Accountants do far more than crunch numbers and balance the books. As Stephanie Rasmussen will tell you, accountants play an integral role in the health of a company. “Bookkeeping is only part of accounting, and today’s accountants are important advisers within an organization,” she says. “I’m passionate about helping students develop the technical accounting and critical thinking skills they need to be impactful business advisers.”
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Receiving the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2020. Like many faculty members, my interest in teaching is what led me to earn a PhD and pursue a career in academia. The UT System’s recognition of my dedication to teaching and mentoring students is an incredible honor.
What are you excited about right now?
Over the past 15 years, the volume and richness of data related to boards of directors, firm management teams, and auditors have increased tremendously. Some of these improvements are due to policy or rule changes, while other improvements have occurred because of individual researchers’ or data companies’ efforts to consolidate big data from multiple sources. With larger, richer data, I can address research questions today that I would not have been able to examine when I first became involved in accounting research.
With the return to campus in fall 2021, what were you most looking forward to?
I was most looking forward to teaching face-to-face classes. Forming relationships with my students is important to me, and I found it more difficult to do that online during the COVID pandemic. Plus, I just love the buzz of a college campus when it is filled with students!
