MIAMI – Joyce Elam, executive dean of the College of Business Administration at Florida International University announced today the appointment of Ruth Ann McEwen to the position of Director of the School of Accounting, effective July 1, 2010.

“Dr. McEwen is highly regarded in her field and brings a wealth of experience to the School of Accounting,” said Elam. “She will enhance the School of Accounting’s strategic focus on global accounting education and will continue the school’s emphasis on excellence in faculty research and teaching.”

McEwen is currently the associate dean, dean of accreditation and administration, and professor of Accounting for the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University in Boston. She successfully led the efforts at Suffolk for initial accounting accreditation and maintenance of AACSB accreditation for both Business and Accounting in 2004.  McEwen has taught graduate Financial Accounting at the Intermediate and Doctoral levels for more than 20 years. Her articles have been widely published in such premier journals as The Accounting Review, Decision Sciences and Accounting Horizons.

She has consulted with the Financial Accounting Standards Board, where she was deeply involved with the FASB’s Codification project.  She has also worked with corporate clients in Europe and has been a visiting professor with the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands.

As the author of two BNA Portfolios, she published a book in 2009 entitled, “Transparency in Financial Reporting – A concise comparison between IFRS and US GAAP.”  She has presented a series of papers focusing on current financial reporting and the usefulness of GAAP accounting information to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

McEwen is a Certified Public Accountant and received her Ph.D. in Accounting from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Media Contact: Lissette Lanza at 305-348-2232.

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About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 12 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.

About the College of Business Administration:
Florida International University’s College of Business Administration, South Florida’s leading business school with unique expertise in international business, entrepreneurship, and a broad range of financial services, is the largest of the university’s professional schools. Among the college’s nearly 30,000 alumni are some of South Florida’s most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. More than 6,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate business courses in its R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School of Business, and more than 1,000 graduate students study in its Alvah H. Chapman Jr, Graduate School of Business every year. Another 1,000 business professionals participate annually in one or more of its professional and executive education programs. For more information, visit http://business.fiu.edu

About the School of Accounting:
The School of Accounting at Florida International University is one of a select number of schools of accounting—fewer than 170 worldwide—to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) beyond the business school of which it is a part. At the graduate level, the school offers a Master of Accounting both in the United States and in Mexico, and an Executive Master of Science in Taxation. Its Bachelor of Accounting program has been ranked #18 in the United States by BusinessWeek. To ensure that programs prepare graduates for changing market realities, the school draws on the expertise of an advisory board whose members regularly evaluate the curriculum. For more information, visit http://business.fiu.edu/soa/