On Aug. 8, Culverhouse professor of accounting Edward Schnee accepted the Outstanding Tax Educator Award, bringing prestige to his career and to the University.
The annual meeting of the American Taxation Association, held in conjunction with the American Accounting Association, convened in Denver, Colo., to announce Schnee as the recipient of the distinguished award.
“I was thrilled and excited to find out that I had won the award,” Schnee said. “The entire nomination and decision process is kept quiet by a special committee, so I was completely surprised when they announced my name.”
The Outstanding Tax Educator Award, funded by Ernst & Young, is named after the late Ray M. Sommerfeld of The University of Texas at Austin who was regarded as an expert in the taxation and accounting field and a colleague of Schnee. It is presented to an educator of taxation who demonstrates exceptional teaching, research and service.
Schnee, then, was considered the perfect candidate.
“I discovered my interest in accounting and taxation as an undergraduate, so I really enjoy teaching students with the same interest,” Schnee said. “However, I only teach high level accounting majors. They have already learned a lot, so they can bring that outside information into my class and contribute to good discussions.”
His long professional résumé, including one-time president of the American Taxation Association and former editor of its journal, gave him an important name in the national ranks. His even longer teaching résumé, including UA professor of accounting for 30 years and director of the UA Master of Tax Accounting program for 26 years, earned him a solid reputation as an effective educator.
“The award acknowledges the quality of teaching and research of Dr. Schnee,” said May Stone, director of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy. “It also draws national and international attention to the School of Accounting and the MTA program at the University. It gives us a comparative advantage over other schools and really compels students thinking about going into accounting or taxation to look at Alabama more closely.”
After earning his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from City College of New York, Schnee went on to receive his MBA and doctorate from Michigan State University.
He has dedicated his life to teaching the ins and outs of taxation, a skill he learned as just an undergraduate.
Besides teaching his undergraduate students, Schnee’s main source of pride is his Master of Tax Accounting program. Only a few years developed at the time of his arrival at UA, the MTA program became a selective, competitive asset to the University.
Averaging 16 MBA students a year and currently serving 19, the program offers a more personal approach to the professional world that its students are soon to encounter. It is highly regarded within the accounting and taxation community, and it is on the recruiting cycle of the Big Four Accounting Firms—Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG.
“Dr. Schnee is a unique accounting professor with his Socratic style of teaching that constantly challenges students,” said Frank Cade, one of the students in his MTA program. “His class discussions on relevant and ‘hot topic’ tax issues are much more engaging than a typical accounting lecture. Dr. Schnee has turned Alabama Master’s of Tax Accounting program to an elite specialty graduate school that is only rivaled by a similar program in Austin, Texas.”
With other MTA programs around the country slowly being discontinued due to lack of experienced faculty, costly curriculum and fewer students, Schnee’s award will surely bring a boost of life into the program at UA.
“He has helped me achieve my career goals by giving me a solid foundational understanding of basic tax issues that allowed me to achieve an internship with PricewaterhouseCoopers last spring which resulted in a full-time offer,” Cade said. “With Dr. Schnee’s prestigious background and resume, the fact that he chooses education as his occupation is a true testament to his desire to teach”
