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MAC: The College’s First New Graduate Program

Accounting courses have been taught at NC State University since before there was a College of Management, with the accounting department’s founding department head, Dr. Carl Messere, and others forging strong connections with professionals in the area. Those early relationships have thrived, leading to scholarships, internships, faculty support and research opportunities, as well as a strong career pipeline for today's accounting program graduates..

In 1994, two years after the College of Management was established, the faculty created the college’s first new graduate program, the Master of Accounting (MAC) program, now the NC State Jenkins MAC Program.  

The Jenkins MAC program’s graduates consistently enjoy a strong placement rate with 100 percent of the MAC Class of 2012 employed as of March 2013. Following are among the market regions where Jenkins MAC alumni are now working at Big Four and middle-market firms: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Greensboro, New York, Raleigh, and Washington Metro. 

Concentrations added to the MAC curriculum – in enterprise risk management, information technology and tax strategy – are attracting students interested in the academic options, as they enable them to who bring greater value to their firms upon graduation.  

The curriculum also takes students to the virtual world of Second Life, where they work in teams at Red Pack, a virtual micro beer brewery warehouse, walking through the procedures of an inventory observation and hosting team meetings. They also learn more about the public accounting profession via related Second Life communities. The Second Life learning experience was brought to the MAC program in 2009 through a grant from Ernst & Young.

MAC program students are encouraged to explore the real world as well, through study abroad programs that allow them to continue to work toward their degree while also learning about new cultures. The MAC Class of 2013 and incoming MAC Class of 2014 students have the opportunity to take a course on sustainability and business in Prague, taught by Scott Showalter, professor of practice in Poole College’s accounting department.

The program’s enrollment has grown from 30 in its first year to 121 in 2012-13; nearly half of the students are from out of state, a reflection of the program’s growing reputation. The current MAC students represent 44 undergraduate colleges in the U.S. and abroad. Two students each year post reflects on their Jenkins MAC program experiences on the Student Life blog.

In 2007, the MAC Program introduced the AIR (Accounting Internship Recruiting) Program, an opportunity for Poole College’s undergraduate accounting students planning to apply to the graduate program to secure accounting internships for the spring or summer before or after their senior year.

The program also offers merit-based fellowships supported by Big Four and Second Tier national professional service firms, top-ranked regional firms, the NC State Graduate School and Poole college’s Department of Accounting.

MAC PROGRAM LEADERSHIP: Dr. Robert Peace was the MAC program’s first director, followed in 2004 by Dr. Kathy Krawczyk, professor of accounting. In 2010, Krawczyk was named the Dixon Hughes Professor of Accounting in honor of her service to the program.

Return to SOTC 2013 Jenkins Graduate Programs