Dr. Suryakant Desai, CPA and Cedar Valley College accounting professor
Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Oct. 24, 2016
(DALLAS) — The Texas Society of CPAs recently announced that Dr. Suryakant Desai, CPA and professor of accounting at Cedar Valley College, has been named TSCPA’s 2016 Outstanding Accounting Educator among community colleges in the state. Desai, who began teaching at Cedar Valley in 1984, will receive the award during a ceremony scheduled in conjunction with TSCPA’s accounting education conference in Dallas on Oct. 28 and 29.
This statewide award honors Texans who have demonstrated both excellence in teaching and active service to the accounting profession. Criteria for judging included instructional innovation, student motivation, the pursuit of learning opportunities for students, involvement in student and professional accounting organizations, and research accomplishments and publications.
TSCPA is a nonprofit, voluntary professional organization that represents Texas CPAs. The society has 20 local chapters and more than 28,000 members — one of the largest in-state memberships of any state CPA society in the United States. TSCPA serves the public interest with programs that advance the highest standards of ethics and practices in the CPA profession, according to its chairman, Kathryn W. Kapka.
“On behalf of Cedar Valley College, I want to congratulate Dr. Desai on being named the top educator by the Texas Society of CPAs,” said Dr. Joe Seabrooks, president of Cedar Valley College. “As evidenced by his previous national faculty award, Dr. Desai represents a strong commitment to learning and excellence in his chosen field, which also is reflected in our outstanding faculty at CVC. We are fortunate to have him as a member of the CVC family.”
“I am honored and humbled by the Texas Society of CPAs bestowing this honor on me,” responded Desai. “I want to thank and commend TSCPA for making a special effort to recognize an accounting professor from a community college. As open-door institutions, community colleges have afforded the masses a ticket to a better life at a very reasonable cost, while also truly democratizing education by making it accessible to anyone who wants to acquire the skills needed to live a productive life.”
He added, “A study of accounting provides students with a sturdy foundation for building a financially secure future. I am truly grateful that I found my calling teaching accounting at a community college. I have witnessed firsthand the transformation of many lives because students acquired the accounting skills of budgeting, properly handling debt, developing saving habits, accumulating assets rather than spending away income, and recognizing the advantages of harnessing the power of compounding.”
Other statewide winners were selected based on the size and type of institutions where they teach: Dr. Veronda F. Willis, the University of Texas at Tyler; Dr. Nikki L. Shoemaker, Stephen F. Austin State University; and Diane M. Eure, Texas State University. All recipients are CPAs.
Desai uses innovative teaching strategies to provide an interactive and engaging learning environment for his students. He also offers tutoring services for students who need additional help. The Cedar Valley accounting faculty member introduced microcomputers in the early 1980s and taught a special topics class at CVC called “Computerized Accounting” before the college’s formal curriculum supported the extensive use of computers.
In 1996, he proposed and planned a dedicated accounting lab for students, and most recently, Desai introduced an Open Entry Open Exit program that allows students to enroll up to a month before the end of the semester and work self-paced on their classes.
Desai has received a number of awards and nominations, including the 2015 Association of Community College Trustees National Faculty Award, the 2014-2015 Dallas County Community College District’s Piper Professor Award and the Cedar Valley College Excellence in Teaching Award.
For more information, contact Henry Martinez, director of marketing at Cedar Valley College, by email at
hmartinez@dcccd.edu or by phone at (972) 860-8142.
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