OCOB Ann Rep 07-08 - Orfalea College of Business - Cal Poly San ...

ACADEMICSCal Poly Accounting Clubrated tops in 2007-08The Cal Poly Accounting Club(CPAC) was named Club of the Yearin the Orfalea College of Businessby the Business Student Councilfor 2007-08.Judging is based on professionaldevelopment opportunities offered toclub members, community service,involvement in Orfalea College ofBusiness activities by members ofthe club, social events, co-sponsoredevents, and attendance, as well asclub philanthropy.As Club of the Year, CPACreceived a $300 gift from the BusinessCouncil, a plaque which will betheirs to keep, and their name on theperpetual plaque, which hangs in theStudent Success Center.James Huang of Fremont wasthe president of CPAC for 2007-08.Approximately 300 alumni,students, faculty and representativesfrom firms providing scholarshipsattended this year’s annual SpringBanquet for CPAC in May. AccountingArea Chair Doug Cerf introducedour two new accounting faculty,Rodney Mock and Andreas Simon.Numerous seniors were recognizedfor their academic accomplishmentsand contributions to theaccounting area and college at theJames Huang (center), president of CPAC,and members of CPAC are all smiles afterbeing named Club of the Year by theBusiness Student Council at the AnnualCollege Awards Banquet.banquet, and five seniors receivedscholarships for CPA review courses,while 31 juniors received $49,000 inscholarships ranging from $1,000 to$3,500 from 23 organizations.Hilda Zacarias (Accounting ’89)was recognized as the accountingarea’s honored alumna for herachievements and for her numerouscontributions to the people of SantaBarbara County. Lindsay Flandersof San Diego and Kyle Slattery ofSanta Barbara were recognized asCPAC and SAAC’s outstandingmembers, respectively.Ernst & Young named EddyQuijano the outstanding accountingeducator. Arline Savage received theDeloitte Faculty Fellowship andDoug Cerf received the KPMGFaculty Fellowship. Chevron andPricewaterhouseCoopers announcedtheir intentions to fund facultyfellowships.Day in the Park and the SpringBanquet were organized by chairAjna Vuk of Sunnyvale, and committeemembers Jenny Allison ofSan Diego, Katie Brown of Stockton,Lindsey Flanders and Mike April ofSanta Cruz.CFA CONTINUEDChallenge team composed of 17seniors, who received four units ofcredit toward their senior project infall 2007.”Ramezani deliberately used theword, “challenge,” to alert students tothe multi-faceted demands of theCFA Level 1 test. To successfullycompete against 175,000 other candidatesand professionals, the CFAchallenge senior project wouldrequire a year-long commitment to adisciplined and self-directed study ofaccounting, economics, ethics,finance and quantitative methods. Tosucceed, students would have tocommit at least 10 hours of independentstudy per week over the courseof the academic year.Under Ramezani’s guidance, thestudents formed teams that researchedand organized the materials coveredby Level 1 exam. Students thenplanned their entire senior yearcourse work to maximize the coverageof the materials in the CFA exam.Ramezani also held numerousstudy sessions, administered severalpractice tests, and invited outsidespeakers who discussed strategies toprepare for the CFA test and theprofessional benefits of obtainingthis designation. After joining thischallenge in September, Justin Dorn(Finance ’07) was so eager, he signedup for the earlier exam in December –and passed. Both Fernandez and Dornshared their preparation strategies andthe key to their success with the restof the class.This year’s Cal Poly CFA challengeteam will participate in the2009 Level 1 exam in June. Thisgroup of seniors is already studyinghard and eager to receive guidanceand encouragements.For further information regardingthe CFA challenge program,please contact Cyrus Ramezani atcramezan@calpoly.edu.32 ❚ ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08