Fostering Inclusive Futures in Accounting

The Foster School of Business is dedicated to increasing inclusivity and diversity throughout its programs, and our Graduate Accounting programs took a step in that direction this past weekend by launching the first annual Fostering Inclusive Futures in Accounting Weekend.

We reached out across the country to locate some of the best and brightest undergraduate Accounting students who identify as underrepresented and first-generation college students and offered them a fully covered trip to Seattle. We ended up with five amazing participants. Thanks to our generous donors from our core sponsors Amazon, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, KPMG, and PwC the weekend was a total success. We also want to thank RSM, Microsoft and Moss Adams for the time and resources they provided.

Enjoying the Mariner’s game with Mayor Harrell

We kicked off the weekend with a Mariner’s game and had the incredible honor of Mayor Bruce Harrell and his wife Joanne Harrell joining us. Donor representatives from Deloitte, Moss Adams, Microsoft and PwC were also in attendance. This was a fantastic start our weekend and a great way to show our participants the city of Seattle during opening weekend.

Other highlights of the weekend included the Inclusive and Diversity in Seattle Accounting Panel that featured DEI leaders from Amazon, Microsoft, PwC, Foster Business School leaders and program alumni. To all the participants, this was the best part of the weekend. One participant told us, “Having that talk helped everyone realize why we should be striving for greatness every day. Another told us, “I LOVED the panel, very motivating and tugged at my heart.”

Panelists Nerelys Ortiz (Microsoft) and Tai Moultrie (Amazon) conversing with Beatriz Cortez and Jordan Dawkins

Saturday afternoon featured participants receiving insightful one-on-one career coaching from our partnership firms RSM, Amazon, Deloitte, PwC and Grant Thornton. This offered students the opportunity to get feedback, ask questions and learn from the journeys of the career mentors.

The weekend ended with a meal at Dukes Seafood sponsored by KPMG. The beautiful Seattle evening was the perfect setting for participants to have even more eye-opening conversations and network with more of our supporting sponsors as well as the Foster School of Business’s Dean, Frank Hodge.

With our inaugural year complete, we are excited to grow this program to include even more students next year. We were very thankful to have funding and time donated from our sponsors. We would encourage you to share this event throughout your network and please feel free to connect us with any student that you think would like to participate next year.

Click on the links to learn more about the weekend and our graduate accounting programs.