Pam Smith’s NIU career is a demonstration on how to measure extraordinary. Smith is the KPMG Endowed Professor of Accountancy.
Prior to joining the college’s accountancy department, Smith earned her Bachelor of Science degree in accountancy from Ferris State University, followed by her MBA with a finance concentration from the University of Texas at Dallas and then her Ph.D. in accounting with a minor in finance from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. She worked at least seven years as an auditor before she entered academia full time.
Over the course of nearly three decades in NIU’s accountancy department, Smith has become one of the college’s most decorated faculty members. Her work has been recognized with a total of 22 teaching or innovation awards at the department, college, university, national and international levels. These include the Board of Trustee Professorship in 2010 — NIU’s highest recognition; the Illinois CPA Society 2008 Outstanding Educator of the Year; the Midwest AACSB Innovation in Business Education Award; the American Accounting Association 2009 Innovation in Accounting Education Award; and the Wall Street Journal’s Distinguished Professor award among others.
“Pam’s unwavering commitment to our students, education, the academy and the profession is extraordinary,” says Balaji Rajagopalan, dean of the NIU College of Business. “Pam has received just about every award possible in her field. That she strikes such a perfect balance between outstanding achievement on all fronts and student growth is remarkable.”
Her work as a teacher/scholar is so highly respected that Smith was selected three times by NIU leadership from a pool of over 1,000 outstanding faculty to serve as NIU’s nominee for the CASE and Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year. Indeed, Smith has blazed a trail of excellence that pays homage to the profound contributions made by the department’s founding father Don Kieso. Much like the department’s founders, her impact has been felt throughout the college and university.
The college’s BELIEF program, created in the early 2000s, illustrates the point. Soon after being hired, and at the direction of then-Dean David Graf, Smith facilitated a brainstorming session with more than 60 senior level executives who served on the dean’s Board of Executive Advisors (BOEA). Then-Dean Graf’s challenge: create a model for business ethics education based on industry needs, educational goals and best practices; then create an approach for infusing ethics throughout the college’s curriculum. Smith facilitated the session with aplomb, and as the faculty task force leader integrated the executives’ ideas into the college’s work product. Their work also included conversations with the Department of Philosophy and other units on campus as well as ongoing conversations with the executives and the college at large. In little more than a year and under Smith’s leadership, the task force created the Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework and content, also known as the BELIEF Program.
When BELIEF launched, the college once again broke new ground. At that time, the college was the only business school in the country — perhaps the world — to successfully develop a well-thought model and implementation plan for ethics education in business. This was due both to the process itself which insisted on a robust collaboration within and between industry and academia, as well as Smith’s ability to masterfully lead those discussions and the faculty task force. The world’s most prestigious accreditation body for business colleges, AACSB International, heralded the work as exemplary and as a model for other institutions. AACSB went further by showcasing the college’s work for several months on the AACSB website. And during a global conference, the AACSB International president at the time lauded the program as an international best practice.
Smith became the face of BELIEF and made innumerable presentations around the world. She led the way with organizing Ethics Day, which has since grown into the biannual event now known as Ethics Week. She helped create and was faculty advisor for the student organization LEAD, which focuses on helping build ethical leaders. She coached and travelled with student teams to compete in national ethics case competitions.
As BELIEF continued to grow, Smith transitioned into an advisor capacity, serving as the historical memory and central advising figure on the program’s advisory board. She is seen as a mentor and advisor to many, including students, staff and faculty alike.
Smith has long been recognized and viewed as a leader in the accounting academic circle and has been highly engaged with the accounting business community. She has also served on the editorial board for Issues in Accounting Education and was its associate editor from 2007-2009. She has been an officer with the American Accounting Association and designated campus champion for the Illinois CPA Society and the AICPA. She is recognized as a national academic authority in the field, having been invited to present as a technical expert in accounting at major firms including KPMG, Abbott Labs, Accenture and Plante-Moran Accounting. She served as an expert witness in the Enron legal case. The Bureau of National Affairs (recognized as the top tax and accounting guide) invited her to write technical guidance for accounting for business combinations.
In the classroom, Smith has taught some of the most difficult and complex classes an undergraduate business student can take, among them derivatives, valuation, off-balance-sheet financing and foreign exchanges. She routinely advises capstone research projects and has mentored students through the academic publication process. She has guided students applying for graduate school and law programs, including several who have pursued doctorate degrees. Indeed, her work has had an exponential impact in many areas at the individual, professional and societal levels.
When asked to describe her proudest moments at NIU, Smith says, “I am most proud of having the honor and privilege to teach the awesome students at NIU and the impact on thousands of students through the BELIEF program. I know that BELIEF has made a difference in the lives of many. After graduation, students reach out to me when they are going through significant ethical dilemmas. Yet our graduates rise above and make solid decisions about their best course of action. The fact that they think I played a small role in finding their path forward is the greatest gift a student could ever give a professor.” Of equally great importance is the honor to hold an endowed professorship. “The crowning point of my time here is the distinct privilege to carry the title of KPMG Endowed Professor for the past 17 years. NIU’s legacy with firms such as KPMG is a point of pride and honor.”
“Pam’s impact and the body of work she has created is a legacy that will last generations,” says Rajagopalan. “Her contributions have transformed countless lives and significantly enhanced the department, the college, the university and the profession. She has been a genuine source of inspiration, a generous faculty colleague and a true ground-breaker. We sincerely thank Pam for her foresight in creating such visionary change that will continue to live on for countless generations of NIU Huskies. We wish her, our fellow NIU Huskie, much continued joy and amazing adventures in her retirement.”
~ M. De Jean, Director of Marketing, NIU Business
