Jenkins Grad Students Study Fraud Examination while Exploring Europe

Dr. Eileen Taylor, assistant professor of accounting in the College of Management, developed the course and taught it between May 17 and June 6, 2010. She will be teaching it at NC State in spring 2011, and hopes to teach it in Prague again in the future.

Enrolled this summer were two students in the Jenkins MBA program, one in the Master of Global Innovation Management program, and six in the Jenkins Master of Accounting program.

The blend of students led to interesting classroom discussions, according to Lars Isaacson, a Jenkins MAC student.

“Our class was outstanding,” he said. “It was more readings/theory/discussion-based, which allowed us to really learn off each other’s viewpoints and experiences. We were all graduate level students from different programs and backgrounds and it was very interesting to hear varied viewpoints on particular topics,” he said.

The structure of the course also allowed the students to “maintain a healthy balance between scholarly and leisurely activities,” he said.

The leisurely activities included a number of travel experiences: a four-day excursion to Munich, Germany; a rafting trip in Cesky Krumlov, a small city in the southern Bohemian region of the Czech Republic known for its architecture; and a visit to the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Concentration Camp, a holding camp for transferring Jewish people to other concentration camps. While there, “we got to listen to an elderly lady describe her time spent in the Ghetto when she was 19 years old,” said Mark Weadon, a MAC student.

Weadon said he enrolled in the course for several reasons. “First, I wanted to lighten my course load during the MAC program. Second, I have always wanted to study abroad but I never found the time during undergrad. This program provided me with the quick and easy way to accomplish both goals and arrive back just in time for my summer internship,” he said.

His favorite part of the trip “was the four hours I spent in and around the BMW Headquarters in Munich, Germany,” he said. He also “enjoyed how the fraud course sparked conversations and engaged the students using a variety of tools. Dr. Taylor utilized everything from news and journal articles to YouTube videos and American Greed specials.”

Isaacson said the “Prague study abroad offered many things that won me over. It took place over three weeks, which was a much better alternative to a five-week summer session elective in Raleigh. Having both NCSU faculty and students combined the facets of an exciting European cultural experience with the comforts of a class at home. Last, but not least, Prague is a city I hadn’t heard much about growing up compared to the other major European hubs, and my curiosity was certainly piqued.”

The structure of the study abroad experience allowed sufficient freedom “to do other things besides class. Other than the safety guidelines set by the program, we had complete control of our trip. We could go where we wanted to go and see what we wanted to see. It was almost as if our class and vacation were two complete trips,” Isaacson said.

“Another priceless thing was the friendships we developed. You live and study in close proximity to a few select people and can’t help but become friends. Even though we all had different personalities and ideas of fun, it was no problem splitting up for a few hours to do the things we each wanted and meet up later. Lastly, our professor made all of our trips outstanding,” he said, through her research and planning of things for the students to do. “We all benefited because of it,” he said.

The students visited historical and educational places with their instructor, and experienced the social scene with the rest of the students.
“In addition, the close proximity of the European countries allowed some of us to continue our trip to Munich and Amsterdam, and myself, to continue all the way through London, Wales, Liverpool, and Dublin,” Isaacson said.

He also offered a bit of advice to other students considering study abroad: “DO IT! Any place you choose will have its benefits and drawbacks. Take the time to research the place and culture you are going to, make a list of things you want to do/see, and DO IT! You are certain to make friends and have a wonderful time. Now is the time of your life where trips like this are easy to do, so don’t wait.”