Black Hills Corporation commitment aids USD accounting program
BHC, a diversified energy company headquartered in Rapid City, S.D., worked with the USD Foundation to establish and fund the Distinguished Faculty Development Fund, which will enhance faculty salaries in the accounting program. Two professors of accounting, Tom Davies and Srini Ragothaman, were selected with this gift as Black Hills Corporation Distinguished Professors of Accounting. Davies was cited for great teaching, Ragothaman for great research.
According to Mike Keller, dean of the Beacom School of Business, Davies and Ragothaman are senior faculty with many years of favorable student evaluations and solid reputations among their peers as excellent researchers. “Having the respect of both students and peers is a ‘grand slam’ in higher education,” Keller added.
Davies, LL.M., joined the faculty at USD in 1987 and is associate dean of the Beacom School of Business. He primarily teaches undergraduate and graduate tax courses at USD while his research interests include tax complexity and ethics. A Certified Public Accountant, Davies received his LL.M. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Ragothaman is the Accounting Internship Coordinator at USD. He received his M.S. in Business Administration from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in Business from the University of Kansas. A Chartered Accountant, Ragothaman joined the USD faculty in 1991. His teaching experience includes graduate and undergraduate courses in auditing and accounting.
In addition to its support of the accounting faculty, BHC actively recruits interns and graduates from the Beacom School of Business for accounting and finance-related positions and has several USD alumni working at the company. BHC also made a significant financial contribution to support the 2009 construction of Beacom Hall.
“We want to assure that the quality of the USD Beacom School of Business educational programs is superior,” explained Perry Krush ’81, vice president of supply chain at BHC. “Our company understands that passionate professors are keys to attracting the best and brightest students into the accounting and finance profession and we are willing to make a financial commitment to support that.”
Download a photograph of Keller (left), Ragothaman and Davies (with their awards).
You May Also Like
Third Academic All-America honor for Duffy
AUSTIN, Texas — South Dakota senior guard Ciara Duffy was one of five Division I women's basketball players selected to the Academic All-America first team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Duffy earns Academic All-America honors for the third consecutive season.
Perfect Finish Coyotes beat Jacks for Summit crown
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — All five South Dakota starters scored in double-figures and the Coyotes completed perhaps the greatest regular season in Summit League history with a 63-58 win against rival and second-seeded South Dakota State in the tournament championship game Tuesday inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
