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UCA’s Beta Alpha Psi Chapter Wins First Place in International Competition

Pictured (R to L): Kaidan Zheng, Tristen Porter, and Harris Felton

UCA students traveled to Orlando, Florida during the last week of July 2022 for the Beta Alpha Psi annual meeting of all chapters.

Before the meeting started, the students enjoyed an Arkansas BAP Connection breakfast sponsored by the Arkansas Society of CPAs. During the meeting, the students networked, provided community service, attended professional development meetings, and participated in multiple competitions.

After their regional win earlier this year, the Chapter qualified to compete at the conference and brought home the INTERNATIONAL FIRST PLACE award in Best Practices in the Art of Engagement for the Resume Escape Room they hosted for students last spring. This is UCA’s 3rd international first place in Beta Alpha Psi Best Practices. Congratulations to students Harris Felton, Tristen Porter, and Kaidan Zheng for their excellent work!

Additional UCA Recognition at the Annual Meeting:

  • Beta Alpha Psi recognized UCA as a superior chapter.
  • Daniel Wheeler competed in Project Run With It, a real-world consulting project.
  • Dean Michael Hargis received the Outstanding Dean Award.
  • Dr. Connie McKnight became a Chapter Advocate for the Southwest Region.

The students also took advantage of their time in Orlando to have some fun!

Beta Alpha Psi is an honor organization for financial information students and professionals with over 300 chapters internationally. The organization promotes academic excellence, professional development, and responsible practices.

Posted in: Accounting, COB News, _Awards, _Competition, _Networking, _RSOs on August 5, 2022 Tagged: , , ,

COB Beta Alpha Psi Chapter Places First and Second at Regional Conference Competitions

UCA’s Theta Lambda Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi earned a first place win at the 2022 regional conference in the category of Best Practices in the Art of Engagement. Several members worked to create an escape room with a resume theme and offered the escape to teams of students. Harris Felton and Tristen Porter presented the project for the virtual competition. Because of the first place regional win, the Theta Lambda Chapter will compete against the other regional winners in Orlando this summer.

UCA students also earned a 2nd Place regional win for Best Practices in the Art of Change. Chapter members Claire DeBusk, Yulia Lyubchenko, and Kaidan Zheng shared how the Theta Lambda Chapter changed in the face of covid and the increased demands of members.  [Read more…]

Posted in: COB News, _Awards, _Competition, _RSOs on April 13, 2022 Tagged: , , ,

COB Dean Hargis Receives 2022 Outstanding Dean Award From International Honor Organization

The Dean of the UCA College of Business, Dr. Michael Hargis, has been selected to receive the 2022 Outstanding Dean Award by Beta Alpha Psi (BAP), an international honor organization for financial information students and professionals.

Dr. Hargis was nominated by UCA’s Theta Lambda Chapter and will be presented with the award at the Annual Beta Alpha Psi meeting in Orlando in late July. In the nomination, UCA’s chapter called Dr. Hargis a “fierce advocate” for the College of Business and cited his “amazing impact” on the BAP Theta Lambda chapter. The nomination detailed his support of the chapter’s expansion as well as BAP members’ development and achievements.

In its letter notifying him of this award, the BAP National Office told Dr. Hargis, “while this year’s nominees were very competitive, you stood out based on your consistent and longstanding commitment to Beta Alpha Psi. Your selection was based on your hands-on engagement, and your significant financial and operational support to the chapter that positioned them to achieve their goals and objectives. Overall, the committee was quite impressed with your achievements considering the long history of outstanding performance of the Theta Lambda chapter.”

Beta Alpha Psi is an honor organization founded in 1919 for financial information students and professionals. There are over 300 AACSB- and/or EQUIS-accredited chapters on university campuses with over 300,000 members. Beta Alpha Psi recognizes scholastic excellence, offers professional development, and encourages ethical, social, and public responsibility.

The BAP Theta Lambda chapter of University of Central Arkansas focuses on honoring scholarship, professional development, and service to the community. Members have the opportunity to meet and get to know professionals from all areas of accounting, and they learn skills needed to be successful in careers in accounting, finance, information systems, and analytics.

Posted in: Accounting, COB News, PAST, _RSOs on March 28, 2022 Tagged: , , , ,

Beta Alpha Psi Hosts Escape Room to Engage Students in Career Readiness

Two days in late January, Beta Alpha Psi hosted the COB Escape Room for which the RSO created intricate puzzles students had to solve to “escape” the (unlocked) room. Over 115 people participated in the escape experience with 99 undergrads and 16 graduate students, alumni, and faculty. Most participated in person, but a few were able to take part virtually.

During the experience, participants found clues around the room and used them to solve puzzles all in an effort to build a proper resume. The engaging exercise directed teams of two to discover common mistakes and recommended practices for creating a great resume.

“It felt like the full escape room experience,” said Junior Business Administration major Noah Willis. It showed me how to get my resume in order, what to put, what not to put. I think this has taught me how to create a better resume.”

Escaping required problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking. Even the most experienced resume writers learned a thing or two.

See more photos

Posted in: Accounting, COB News, PAST, _Events, _RSOs on January 28, 2022 Tagged: ,