Faculty Appointed to Endowed Positions
Two faculty from the Department of Accounting and Business Law were appointed to
endowed positions, which are reserved for outstanding scholars who exemplify a
commitment to research as well as teaching.
Dr. Gia Chevis
The PricewaterhouseCoopers Faculty Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in Accounting
Since arriving at Baylor, Dr. Gia Chevis has taught a variety of courses. She teaches graduate
courses on current events in global financial reporting and corporate accounting and also
undergraduate courses in managerial and cost accounting.
Chevis earned her PhD in Accounting from Texas A&M University in 2003. In the past, she
taught CPE classes for the Central Texas chapter of Texas Society of CPAs and was an invited
panelist for discussions on current issues in account and business at Baylor University and
Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. Chevis earned her Certified Management Accountant
designation from the Institute of Management Accountants and an IFRS Certificate from the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Chevis’ general research interests are in the areas of international financial reporting
standards, the use of financial information by market participants and pay equity in
executive compensation. She enjoys studying innovation and effectiveness in the classroom.
Her research has been published in Advances in International Accounting, Advances in
Accounting Education and Today’s CPA. She has also presented her work at national and
international conferences. Chevis was selected as a 2008 recipient of ConocoPhillips Faculty
Sponsorship, named the Accounting department’s 2010 KPMG Summer Faculty Fellow and
chosen as a Baylor Fellow for the inaugural 2011-2012 year. Last fall she began serving as
the director of Accounting Graduate Programs.
“I am honored to receive the PricewaterhouseCoopers Fellowship for Teaching Excellence
in Accounting,” Chevis said. “I’ll continue working on educational efforts for the
International Section of the AAA, including launching a teaching resource guide in the triannual forum. Longer-term, I would love to partner with companies and professional firms
to develop content—perhaps even entire courses—for online and blended learning options
for our students.”
Dr. Kathy Hurtt
KPMG Peat Marwick-Thomas L. Holton Chair of Accounting
Dr. Kathy Hurtt is an associate professor and has worked at Baylor since 2004. She received
her PhD at the University of Utah, her MBA at California State University, Stanislaus and her
BS from Azusa Pacific University. Before coming to Baylor, she was a faculty member at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Her professional experience incudes serving as director of Internal Audit at the University
of the Pacific, working as an auditor for KPMG and working as an assistant controller at a
property casualty insurance company.
Hurtt’s research focuses primarily in the areas of auditors’ professional skepticism, for
which she developed an instrument designed to measure professional skepticism, auditor
judgment, and accounting pedagogy. Hurtt teaches a graduate course in fraud examination
and has served as an expert consultant with the Waco Police Department. She teaches
undergraduate Accounting Systems and has received awards for her innovative work in this
course.
“KPMG has a long history of supporting accounting education and research, and this
endowed professorship provides the financial support that allows me to pursue my
research and further the research mission of Baylor,” Hurtt said. “Some of the leading
faculty throughout the country hold similar endowed KPMG professorships, and I am
privileged to be considered one of that group.”
Her reseach is published in AUDITING: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Behavior Research
in Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, AIS Educator Journal, Today’s CPA and the
Journal of College Teaching and Learning. She has also been awarded Best Paper Award by
AIS Educators and the Outstanding Service Award from the American Accounting
Association Information Systems Section.