A team of accounting students from the University of Southern Indiana has won first place in the national Student Case Competition sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) for the second year in a row.

This was the fourth straight year for USI College of Business students to qualify for the national finals and the first time for USI to have two of the final four teams. Other teams in the final round of competition represented North Carolina State University and Wright State University. The finalists competed June 7 at the 90th IMA Annual Conference and Exposition in Denver.

As qualifiers for the "final four," each of the two USI teams received an award of $3,000. The winning team received an additional $2,000.

Students on the winning team were accounting majors Ashley Hancock, Anand Pandit, Yekaterina Shirokova, and David Ubelhor, all of Evansville.

Also competing for USI was the team of Kiersten Deig and Matt Garza of Evansville Angela King of Santa Claus, Indiana and Anna Shade of Henderson, Kentucky.

Faculty sponsors were Dr. Brian McGuire, associate dean of the College of Business and professor of accounting, and Jeanette G. Maier-Lytle, instructor in accounting.

Teams from universities throughout the country entered the first round of IMA competition. To qualify for the finals, each team prepared a 15-minute DVD presentation and submitted it for blind judging. Four teams were chosen to make live presentations in the final round. In the finals, each team's 15-minute presentation was followed by a single question from the judges.

The case for the 2009 competition required the students to develop recommendations that would help the academic advising department of a fictitious university's college of business manage its operations and costs strategically.

McGuire said, "Both USI teams did very well, and both teams arrived at different solutions that provided creative approaches to a complex situation. The team that won offered many innovative techniques, including SWOT [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats]] analysis, activity-based budgeting, and a balanced scorecard approach, in their recommendations."

Judges were selected from industry and academia across the country.

USI accounting students are experienced competitors. Two students on the national championship team - Ashley Hancock and David Ubelhor - were members of the USI team that took first place in the 2008 case competition sponsored by the Indiana CPA Society. USI teams have won that competition five years in a row.

King made her second trip to the IMA finals. She was a member of USI's first-place team in 2008. She also was on the 2007 team in the INCPAS competition.

McGuire said that two characteristics made this year's national competition unusual. It was only the second time that two of the final four teams represented the same university. It was only the second time that the same university has won two years in a row.

All final four teams were recognized at an awards luncheon during the conference.

The Student Case Competition is sponsored annually by IMA to promote sound financial/accounting analysis and presentation skills. IMA is an organization for management accounting and finance professionals. It has about 70,000 members worldwide.

Betty Vawter
News and Information Services

On Campus Housing in High Demand

USI students overwhelmingly agree that Residence Life offers you the privacy you want, the services you need, and the responsibility you deserve - all at a price you can't pass up.

It's important to know that students who live on campus perform better academically, become more involved with the university and have a higher overall success rate than those who choose to live off campus. 

Additionally, university housing provides the following benefits and amenities:

• Furnished suite-style residence halls
• Furnished apartment-style housing for all grade levels
• a wide variety of Meal Plan options
• Living-Learning Community opportunities
• On-site support with live-in staff
• Close proximity to campus services and facilities
• On-campus shuttle bus service
• All utilities paid - local phone, basic cable, internet access, water, electricity, sewage, garbage, etc.
• 24 hour security service.

You can even sign up on-line to live on campus and pay your deposit with a credit card - it's that easy!  Sign up now to guarantee your space within our university housing.

USI has 65 named Academic All-GLVC
Eagles have 11 multi-sport winners

Complete USI Academic All-GLVC List

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — University of Southern Indiana student-athletes earned 65 Academic All-Great Lakes Valley Conference awards in 15 sports for the 2008-09 year. The Screaming Eagles had 11 student-athletes receive Academic All-GLVC awards for both cross country and track.

Juniors Mary Ballinger, Sarah Baysden, Lauren Crick, Alison Shafer, and Lacy Williams; sophomore Heather Beard; and freshmen Adrienne Curtis and Jaclyn Henderson earned Academic All-GLVC honors in both women's cross country and women's track and field. Junior Andrew Menner and freshmen Wes Camp and Andrew Duggan merited Academic All-GLVC honors from both men's cross country and men's track and field.

USI also had 30 student-athletes earn repeat honors in their respective sports and three athletes who have earned the honor at least four times. Shafer lead all USI student-athletes with seven Academic All-GLVC honors in cross country and track.

Four-time winners in one sport are Lacey Ligmanowski (softball), Marcia Weflen (cross country) and Shafer (track).

To be eligible, the student-athlete must participate in a GLVC sponsored sport and have a cumulative 3.3 grade point average (GPA) or post a 3.4 GPA in each of the previous two semesters.

Ray Simmons, USI Sports Information

USI to Host 2009 Cross Country National Championships

For the second time in five years, the University of Southern Indiana will be the host sight for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.

The NCAA recently announced that USI will host the 2009 NCAA II National Championships, an event that brings in 48 teams and more than 400 student-athletes and coaches each year. The event is scheduled for November 21.

"I think it's great for the department and the University," USI Director of Athletics Jon Mark Hall said. "We have a wonderful campus and wonderful people that work here. Events like this show the NCAA staff and other member institutions of Division II what we are all about."

USI hosted the 2004 NCAA II Cross Country Championships and USI Head Coach Mike Hillyard is excited to have the chance to do it again. "We're really excited to have another opportunity to host," Hillyard said. "We had a lot of positive feedback from other coaches and athletes when we hosted in 2004 and felt like it was a tremendous success.

"I think it is always good anytime you can have a major event on your campus," Hillyard continued. "It certainly puts the University, the administration, yourself, and your kids in the spotlight. It's great for the community and it's great for our student-athletes to have that opportunity."

Hosting the NCAA II National Championships also can have a positive economic impact for the Evansville area. "I think the plus about hosting the championship is that it brings a tremendous amount of people to the Evansville community," Hall said. "There are a lot of hotel rooms being booked, a lot of meals being eaten in Evansville. Realistically, if we pull the event off the right way and get the support of the community, it can really help both the Evansville community and the USI athletic program."

Having hosted the event in 2004, Hall feels like USI will do an even better job in 2009. "I think we did a good job in 2004, but I think we'll do a better job this time," Hall explained. "Times have changed and the event has probably changed a little bit. We have a great venue for it and I don't want to say it will be easier this time around, but I think anytime you have experience at something, you'll do a better job."

In 2004, USI had a great volunteer turnout to help run the race and various other events that were associated with the meet. Hall is encouraging people to volunteer this year as well. "We will need a lot of volunteers," Hall said. "I think that anyone who was here in 2004 would remember how many people it took to work on the course and work on the different kinds of auxiliary events for the championship.

"It's a large effort," Hall explained. "It's a one-day event, but there are months and months of planning that go into it."

With strong squads coming back in 2009, USI also is looking forward to competing at the national meet. "It's a rare opportunity for your student-athletes to have a chance to run a national championship on their home course," Hillyard said. "With a couple of pretty good teams returning next year, we are definitely excited about the possibility of that happening."