AICPA: Fellowships for Minority Doctoral Students

The primary objective of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Fellowships for Minority Doctoral Students is to enable more minorities to enter and move ahead in the accounting profession and academe. Recognizing the fact that professors serve as role models, a second objective is to increase the number of CPA role models who can positively influence the career decisions of a college student. These competitive fellowships are available to minority candidates who have been accepted into a doctoral accounting program. Fellowships of up to $12,000 (recent awards have been at the $8,000 level) are awarded once a year to full time minority accounting scholars who show significant potential to become accounting educators. You will be considered for renewals as long as you continue to make satisfactory progress, as a full-time student, toward completion of your degree requirements, up to a total of five years. For the 2005-2006 academic year, fellowships were awarded to 18 individuals pursuing their Ph.D. To date, the program has assisted 53 individuals in successfully completing their doctoral programs.

All applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Be a minority student who has applied to or has been accepted into an accounting doctoral program.
   

• Have earned a Masters degree and/or completed a minimum of three years full-time experience in the practice of accounting.
   

• Be attending or planning to attend school on a full-time basis and, once admitted, work consistently and forthrightly to attain the doctoral degree.
   

• Agree not to work full time in a paid position or accept responsibility for teaching more than one course per semester as a teaching assistant or, dedicate more than one quarter of the time as a research assistant.

For purposes of this program, the AICPA defines minority students as those of Black, Native American, Pacific Island races, or of Hispanic ethnic origin. all applicants must be U.S. citizens

Deadline: Fellowships are awarded once each year (in June) for the following academic year. All application materials must be received by the AICPA by April 1 of each year.

For further information, please visit: http://www.aicpa.org/members/div/career/mini/fmds.htm