{"id":25846,"date":"2015-09-23T09:34:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T13:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=25846"},"modified":"2015-10-08T13:45:45","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T17:45:45","slug":"beta-alpha-psi-students-prepare-to-go-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2015\/09\/beta-alpha-psi-students-prepare-to-go-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Beta Alpha Psi students: prepare to go places."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dean
Dean Aldrich and Beta Alpha Psi officers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was an easy decision by FIU\u2019s Beta Alpha Psi chapter to invite College of Business Acting Dean Jose M. Aldrich to speak at their fall kickoff event in late August.<\/p>\n

Aldrich has an accounting background, earning his undergraduate business degree at the University of Miami in 1973. What\u2019s more, he was one of the founding members of UM\u2019s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, which he credits for undergirding later successes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a sense of responsibility and a sense of leadership,\u201d Aldrich told a packed room at the organization\u2019s fall recruiting meeting. The networking and connections he made have also been crucial, enabling him to build a circle of colleagues and friendships that endured across the years.<\/p>\n

\"Dean
Dean Aldrich addresses the Beta Alpha Psi meeting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Aldrich went on to earn a law degree at UM, he pursued a career in accounting, building on experiences facilitated by his Beta Alpha Psi membership. When an engineering company wanted help building and running a sugar mill in the C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, they approached UM officials and were steered to Beta Alpha Psi and Aldrich, who accepted an offer to spend a month in West Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are decisions you make that change the course of your life,\u201d he said. That particular decision began Aldrich\u2019s international accounting career. He went on to spend 35 years at KPMG LLP, including four years in Venezuela, and rose to managing partner in charge of the tax practice in Latin America.<\/p>\n

\"Beta<\/p>\n

Aldrich\u2019s story was well-appreciated by the packed room of returning and prospective members of Beta Alpha Psi, the honor society that caters to accounting, finance and information systems students. For the second straight year, FIU\u2019s chapter received KPMG\u2019s Gold chapter designation, awarded to student groups that have shown innovation, leadership and membership advancement. Only 12 chapters worldwide earn the honor.<\/p>\n

Inclusion in the honor society isn\u2019t automatic. Members must maintain a 3.0 GPA and are expected to contribute to the group and its events. But advantages are many, from opportunities to polish resume writing, practice public speaking and grow in leadership roles, to networking with colleagues and alumni. A key draw is the chance to connect with area representatives of top accounting firms \u2013 a pipeline to all-important internships and first jobs.<\/p>\n

\"Beta<\/p>\n

New to FIU this year and working toward Beta Alpha Psi membership is junior Cristian Calderin, a University of Florida transfer. A family friend told him about the organization. \u201cI researched and saw they were superior \u2013 and a Gold chapter,\u201d he said, adding that the closeness of the community and focus on service were draws as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to be a part of it and grow,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is going to be fun and improve the person that I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adeel Sobani, the organization\u2019s new president, wants to bring in more non-traditional students, especially those who are working long hours and don\u2019t normally think about joining an honor society. \u201c I want to bring them to meet their peers. I want to enhance those students,\u201d Sobani said.<\/p>\n

\"Beta
Beta Alpha Psi officers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was an easy decision by FIU\u2019s Beta Alpha Psi chapter to invite College of Business Acting Dean Jose M. Aldrich to speak at their fall kickoff event in late August. Aldrich has an accounting background, earning his undergraduate business degree at the University of Miami in 1973. What\u2019s more, he was one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":25848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3834,238,3855,1361],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25846"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25861,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25846\/revisions\/25861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}