April 7, 2003

College Student Organization Places Second in Regional Competition

Two members of the Beta Alpha Psi executive board made a presentation at the Beta Alpha Psi Regional Conference held in Indianapolis from February 28 through March 1. Chapter President Shefali Gopal and Vice-President Samir Itchhaporia spoke on the integration of students majoring or concentrating in accounting, finance, and MIS into chapter activities. The pair won second place in the "Best Practices" category and brought home a $250 prize. Perhaps even better, noted Gopal, was that the team returned to campus with program ideas that the chapter hopes to implement.

Until recently Beta Alpha Psi was open only to accounting students. Three years ago, the organization extended membership to finance and MIS majors. Chapter leaders felt it was important to make sure that the Illinois chapter activities benefit all three majors. The chapter has included speakers from a variety of industries and companies to highlight the opportunities available in different career fields. In addition chapter leaders coordinate opportunities for members to shadow corporate staff and arrange tutoring sessions for most required business classes.

Noted Gopal, "We feel that this integration process is an important step in preparing members for the real world where a graduate with an accounting major isn’t necessarily only going to be doing accounting work or working with other accounting-specific workers. Rather, it is more likely that an accounting graduate may be working closely with other finance and MIS departments, since the fields are so interrelated."

In addition to Gopal and Itchhaporia, the other members of the Beta Alpha Psi executive board attended the conference. Marc Lewison, treasurer, Amy Ferris, recording secretary, Sarika Bhat, service coordinator, and Rick Crowley, social chair, along with Jim Molloy, the chapter faculty advisor, traveled to Indiana.

Beta Alpha Psi is a national scholastic and professional fraternity for financial information professionals. The primary objective of the fraternity is to encourage and give recognition to scholastic and professional excellence in the business information field.