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Ph.D. Student Jamie Hoelscher Upholds Tradition of Excellence in Accountancy

Jamie Hoelscher is currently in her third year of Ph.D. studies at the College of Business Administration School of Accountancy. After completing her previous academic work at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, the opportunity to study at Nebraska had a strong appeal.

“I knew I wanted to stay in the Midwest,” Hoelscher said. “The University of Nebraska has a lot of good history and people I knew from Springfield that live in the Omaha area were encouraging me to look into the School.”

Her experiences at the School of Accountancy have rung true with the expectations she received.

“Everyone here is very friendly. People are generally nice and both professors and fellow students are easy to work with, especially when it comes to sharing offices. Professors are always helping us get into conferences and helping us with networking. I would definitely recommend the program here.”

Hoelscher’s academic excellence includes being awarded an Othmer Fellowship, which is used to help recruit exceptional scholars to Nebraska. She also was invited to the American Accounting Association doctoral consortium in Lake Tahoe, Nev., which provided a forum for stimulating doctoral students to pursue research in significant subject areas.

Balancing the academic commitments is not always easy but Hoelscher focuses on working hard during the week and using any free moment to prepare for the next day.

“We teach in our research assistantships so we have to balance working for another professor, as well as preparing our own lectures and grading our students work. We keep office hours and also have to do our own course work including getting ready for comprehensive exams and preparing our papers. I try to get as much done during the week as I can so I can have a day for myself away from school or work every once in awhile. The biggest thing is to not get behind, to avoid feeling stressed.”

Hoelscher, who is originally from St. Louis, MO, would like to pursue an academic career once she completes her Ph.D. work.

“My goal is to go to a division I school and continue to do research and teach accounting. Being a graduate teaching and research assistant during my master's program instilled my decision to want to continue a life in academia. I was also a tutor in high school and enjoy explaining things to others. By getting involved in research projects in undergrad and master's programs I had a good preview of what to expect and knew this was the path for me.”

Hoelscher plans to explore more specific career options once she begins her final year of Ph.D. studies. In the meantime, she continues to uphold the hard working and achieving tradition that comes with being a part of the School of Accoutancy.
Published: October 21, 2011