College of Business Administration selects Brett Wilkinson as new accounting department head
Thursday, July 3, 2014
MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University College of Business Administration has named Brett Wilkinson as its new accounting department head and the first holder of the Robert G. Chapman endowed chair.
"Dr. Wilkinson has an exceptional record as an academic scholar," said Ali Malekzadeh, Edgerly family dean of the College of Business Administration. "He is an expert in international taxation and tax policy and holds an international reputation for his tax policy scholarship. More importantly, his enthusiasm for teaching and mentoring students will be a tremendous asset to the college and our accounting program. I look forward to what innovative ideas will emerge from his leadership."
Wilkinson joins Kansas State University after serving on the faculty of Baylor University, where he was an associate professor and held the Roderick L. Holmes endowed chair in accounting. During his 12 years at Baylor, he played an integral role in growing and further developing the graduate tax program, which was ranked by TaxTalent as a Top 10 program in 2013.
"I'm delighted to be joining Kansas State at this exciting time," Wilkinson said. "We have an excellent accounting program and a dynamic faculty whose desire is to deliver a leading-edge curriculum preparing our students for a lifetime career in the global business environment."
Wilkinson's principal teaching and research interests are in international taxation, tax policy and the public interest implications of accounting. He has won multiple teaching awards, including being named Outstanding Educator by the Texas Society of CPAs in 2008. His research has been published in a wide range of academic, practitioner and accounting education journals.
"Not only do we value high-quality teaching, but at Kansas State we also desire to engage in research that impacts our profession," Wilkinson said. "To that end, we are working to establish a center that will facilitate interactions between faculty, students and practicing accounting professionals. One of my highest priorities is to strengthen and grow our flagship graduate program, the Master of Accountancy, which equips students not only for careers in public accounting but also in industry."
One of his Wilkinson's joys is mentoring students and helping them to develop as young professionals. In this regard, he provided leadership to Baylor's participation in PricewaterhouseCoopers' prestigious national tax competition. Student teams from Baylor placed in the top five teams nationally on five different occasions —2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012 — with the 2008 team placing first in the nation and winning the Alexander Hamilton Award.
Originally from Australia, Wilkinson is now a U.S. citizen and has degrees from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. He completed his doctorate at Texas Tech University where he was the Frank M. Burke doctoral fellow in Taxation.
The accounting program at Kansas State University has earned separate accreditation from the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business, a designation that few accredited business schools have. The department offers both an undergraduate major in accounting and a Master of Accountancy.
