UND Accounting has secret admirer

Alumni Association announces $1M anonymous gift for student stipends, endowed chair in name of former longtime professors

An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to the Department of Accountancy at the University of North Dakota. One-fifth of the gift will fund an endowment for graduate student stipends while $800,000 will elevate the Kulas Koppenhaver Endowed Professorship to an Endowed Chair. With this gift, the Endowed Chair fund has grown to $2.5 million, with much of that total given by this same donor.

“We cannot begin to express how thankful we are to have donors who care so much about our students at the University of North Dakota that they would make such a generous gift,” said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation. “For this donor to make this substantial gift to a department that had such an influence on their own career shows you just how much our alumni think of the education they received at UND. They want others to benefit from the same quality education.

“This is a timely gift as I just talked about the critical importance of endowed faculty chairs in my State of the Alumni Association & Foundation Address in late August,” said Carlson Zink. “Endowed chairs help to create and maintain faculty excellence by helping UND departments and colleges compete nationally for outstanding teaching and research faculty.”

“The Kulas Koppenhaver Endowed Chair offers us the opportunity to further build on a tradition of excellence in our Department of Accountancy by supporting experiential learning for our students, putting them ahead of the curve when starting their professional careers,” said Amy Henley, Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration. “This wonderful gift also allows the Department of Accountancy to continue its pursuit of timely, practical, and impactful research in their field.”

The endowment is named for R.D. Koppenhaver and Ludwik Kulas. Koppenhaver served as chair of the Accounting Department from 1940 to 1971 while Kulas was an instructor and a professor from 1946 to 1971, when he took over as department chair. He retired in 1988.

“UND Accountancy faculty built a program that demanded technical excellence and prioritized experiential learning, engagement with practice, and career placement long before it was common,” said Dr. Katherine Campbell, Professor and Chair of the Department of Accountancy. “Ludwik Kulas and R.D. Koppenhaver played foundational roles in building the department. The endowed chair named for them honors not only their personal contributions, but also the accomplishments of the program’s graduates and the faculty’s commitment to maintain this legacy. By recognizing past accomplishments and supporting faculty in their work with students and the academic community, the Kulas Koppenhaver Endowed Chair connects the department’s past, present and future.”

About the author

Milo Smith is the Senior Director of Public Relations for the UND Alumni Asssocation & Foundation. For more information, contact Smith at milos@UNDalumni.net, or 701.777.0831.