The "Big Eight" accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand recently announced a $100,000 endowment establishing a faculty development fund in the College of Business Administration.

The fund provides an annual $10,000 grant to a member of the department of accounting and management information systems who has achieved excellence in teaching, curriculum development and scholarly research, said Kay Kennedy, partner in charge of communications at the firm.

The first grant will be awarded this year, she said.

These grants have "super-positive impact," said Charles DuBois, assistant dean of the School of Communications and the person responsible for contacting potential donors. Grants help to attract and keep faculty in the University, he said.

"There is no question that these contributions, and especially the recent commitment of $100,000, will contribute in a significant way as we drive to improve all of our programs both at the undergraduate to graduate level in trying to compete with other schools for this mythical top-ten public institution ranking," said Charles H. Smith, chairman of the department of accounting and management information systems.

"Coopers and Lybrand believes it has a responsibility to support youth, education and the communities in which we live and work," Coopers and Lybrand Chairman Peter R. Scanlon said in a newsletter announcing the grant.

Each year a faculty member will be recommended by an advisory committee made up three faculty, Smith said, noting the department has 27 full-time faculty.

The committee's choice -- made in conjunction with the department head and a representative of Coopers and Lybrand -- is issued to the dean of the College of Business Administration and then to University President Bryce Jordan. Jordan will finalize the selection, Smith said.

Coopers and Lybrand has 100 offices around the country and an additional 450 worldwide, with national headquarters in New York, Kennedy said.

"The Coopers and Lybrand foundation is a non-profit foundation that is funded through donations of our partners and basically we focus on education at the college level and ways to enhance the quality of the accounting curriculum," she said.

"All of the grants and endowments are aimed at bringing 'real life' into the classroom," Kennedy said.

Besides the faculty fellowship, Coopers and Lybrand's support over the last six years has included computer integration into the University's accounting curriculum, as well as scholarships and innovative auditing tools, she said, noting that these contributions total about $220,000.

The firm also provides financial assistance to doctoral candidates, with the University's first Coopers and Lybrand Scholar, Timothy J. Rupert (graduate-accounting), being named last month. The award provides $15,000 in support for the next three years and the opportunity to participate in a summer internship at the firm's Philadelphia office.

There are currently 33 active partners with Coopers and Lybrand who are alumni, Smith said.

"I don't know of another 'Big Eight' firm/University accounting department relationship in the country that is stronger -- on this criteria -- than the one between Coopers and Lybrand and Penn State," Smith said.