Billie Cunningham to receive the 2016 J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Prize Award

Sarasota, FL – June 30, 2016 – The American Accounting Association (AAA) would like to congratulate Billie M. Cunningham, G. Peter Wilson, and Markus Ahrens as recipients of the J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Prize Award. Billie M. Cunningham is the recipient of the undergraduate award, G. Peter Wilson is the recipient of the graduate award, and Markus Ahrens is the recipient of the two-year college award. The awards will be presented to each recipient in the form of a solid silver medal and a monetary prize of $25,000 on Monday, August 8th at the 2016 AAA Annual Meeting in New York, NY.

Billie M. Cunningham is the EY Teaching Scholar and a Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri’s School of Accountancy in the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business. She holds a BBA, MBA, and PhD from the University of North Texas. Cunningham has taught more than 24,000 students in the undergraduate introductory accounting courses and the MBA accounting course. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her teaching. She is a co-author (with Loren Nikolai) of Accounting Information for Business Decisions. Cunningham’s research studies effective ways to help students develop their critical thinking skills and how to use action research as a systematic, evidence-based means of measuring the effectiveness of one’s teaching strategies and the classroom environment. Her research has been recognized with awards from the Two Year College and Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Sections of the American Accounting Association (AAA).  Cunningham has served as President of both sections and as AAA Vice-President Academic. She serves on the editorial boards of Issues in Accounting Education and Accounting Education: An International Journal, and is the incoming Co-Chair of the Conference on Teaching and Learning Accounting.

G. Peter Wilson, the Joseph L. Sweeney Chair of Accounting at Boston College, received the AAA Competitive Manuscript Award in 1986, the Stanford Business School Distinguished Teaching Award in 1988, the MIT Sloan School of Management Teacher of the Year Award in 1995, the AAA Outstanding Educator Award in 2005, the Boston College Teaching with New Media Award in 2009 and 2010, the AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award in 2010, the AAA Two-Year Section Life-Time Achievement in Accounting Education Award in 2014, and the AAA Innovation in Accounting Education Award as a member of the Pathways Commission Vision committee in 2014. He is a member and past President of the AAA, was a member of the Accounting Education Change Commission and has served on the Editorial Boards of The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, and Issues in Accounting Education. 

Markus Ahrens joined the Accounting & Legal Studies Department at St. Louis Community College-Meramec in 2001 and currently serves as the department chair.  Prior to his teaching career, he worked as an accountant for 15 years.  He earned a Master in Business Administration from Saint Louis University and recently completed his PhD coursework at Saint Louis University. Markus’ primary research interests are experiential learning in accounting education and student engagement utilizing technology. Currently, Markus serves as a Trustee for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Foundation Board, serves as President for the Two-Year Section of the American Accounting Association, and is the past-chair for the Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting.  Furthermore, Markus serves on the AICPA Pre-Certification Education Executive Committee.  In 2010, Markus served as president for the Missouri Association of Accounting Educators.  In addition, Markus is a member of the Teachers of Accounting at Two-Year Colleges, Institute of Management Accountants, Missouri Society of CPA’s and the Association of Experiential Education organizations. 

The J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Prize is the foremost recognition of an individual who consistently demonstrates the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting.   The Cook Prize serves to recognize, inspire and motivate members to achieve the status of a superior teacher.  Each year up to three awards of $25,000 each can be made in the categories of graduate, undergraduate, and two-year accounting degree programs.  More information about this award is available online at http://aaahq.org/Education/Awards/The-J-Michael-and-Mary-Anne-Cook-Prize.  For 2016, the AAA is honored to bestow this award to Billie M. Cunningham, G. Peter Wilson, and Markus Ahrens.