A sharp auditing acumen coupled with a flair for writing has landed a prestigious international scholarship award for an accounting and information management graduate student at The University of Texas at Dallas.
John Hall, a student in the University’s School of Management internal auditing program, received a $5,000 scholarship from the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and received the Esther R. Sawyer Scholarship Award during IIA’s 2007 international conference, held July 8-11 in Amsterdam. Hall received the award for his research and paper that examines the internal audit profession’s role in the enterprise risk management process.
The paper, which Hall spent 60-80 hours developing, was begun in the fall of 2006. It gives practical examples of what individual internal audit departments can do to speed up the process of integrating risk assessment methodology within the framework of the corporate governance and internal control structure.
The award included an all-expense paid trip to the conference in Amsterdam.
“I had decided I was going to go to the conference and was thinking about raising the funds,” Hall said. “When I found out I won, I was really surprised and excited.”
“John is a very good writer, and after I read his paper, I really felt like his would win,” said Mark Salamasick, director of the UT Dallas Center for Internal Auditing Excellence program. “He understood the topic very well, he did a lot of research, covered all the bases and really nailed the topic. It was also very well written.”
As an undergraduate, Hall was the recipient of an academic excellence scholarship at UT Dallas. He graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance in May 2007, and he previously served as vice president of the University’s internal audit student chapter. Hall currently is an intern in Southwest Airlines’ internal audit department and will work as a graduate teaching assistant under Salamasick this fall.
UT Dallas’ internal auditing program is one of the largest worldwide. Although it has only been in place four years, the program has now produced two Sawyer Award winners. In addition to Hall, Tiffany Daykin won in 2006. She also is currently enrolled in the school’s accounting and information management master’s program.
The Sawyer Award was established in 2000 in memory of Esther Sawyer, wife of Larry Sawyer, who is recognized as the “father of modern internal auditing.” In order to be considered for the award, any student enrolled in an IIA-endorsed program may submit an essay of up to 5,000 words on a specific topic related to modern internal auditing.
About the School of Management
The School of Management is the largest of UT Dallas’ seven schools, with an enrollment of nearly 4,700, of which 2,500 are graduate students. Faculty in the school rank 32nd in research productivity nationwide, based on publications in the top 24 business journals spanning all areas of business. Financial Times, using a broader set of 40 journals, ranks UT Dallas’ management faculty 30th worldwide. Financial Times also ranks the university’s Executive MBA program 48th in the world and 22nd in the U.S, and U.S. News and World Report lists UT Dallas’ fulltime Cohort MBA program 54th nationwide and 25th at public colleges and universities in the United States.
About UT Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.
Contact Jill Glass, UT Dallas, (972) 883-5989, jglass@utdallas.edu