Whitman Announces STEM-Designation For Master’s in Professional Accounting Program

Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management announced that its master’s in professional accounting program has now received STEM -designation. The class of 2022 will be the first to graduate with this new STEM-certification.

“We have made notable innovations to our master’s in professional accounting program, including new required courses relating to accounting analytics and business analytics. These requirements emphasize students’ need to have stronger skills relating to these modern approaches to accounting work. Each course incorporates advanced application tools and add-ins that rely on statistical principles and introduces other software tools (e.g., Access, Tableau, Power BI, SAS) that help manage big data with analysis and data visualization. The addition of these STEM-focused courses—along with the existing required and elective courses with a strong technology and quantitative orientation—allowed us to request STEM-designation for the program,” says Alex McKelvie, interim dean and professor of entrepreneurship.

Chair of the Lubin School of Accounting Joseph Comprix adds, “We are grateful that the STEM-designation of our program now reflects the fact that mathematics and technology are central to accounting.”

A STEM-designated program allows international students on an F-1 visa to extend their time in OPT (Optional Practical Training) from 12 to 36 months in the U.S. This makes graduates from STEM-designated programs more hirable and allows them to gain valuable experience relevant to their field of study. The Whitman School already has STEM-designation for its master’s programs in business analytics, finance, marketing and supply chain management, and for its MBA program. “This STEM-designation for our master’s in professional accounting program reflects our faculty’s commitment to help our students prepare for an important shift that has taken place within the field of accounting. There is now an even greater acknowledgement that the production and evaluation of accounting data relies on technical tools and approaches that fall under the skill set of data analytics. This content is now on the CPA exam (starting in 2024) and in high demand by our corporate partners. Having STEM-designation means we can continue to attract the best students globally to our accounting program and prepare them for jobs at top accounting firms,” says McKelvie.

For more information about the master’s in professional accounting program, visit here.