Lundquist College students pursuing careers in accounting have a great new way to connect with top national and regional firms.

We are pleased to announce that on April 9, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) fully reaccredited the Lundquist College of Business through 2017. With only 649 institutions out of 12,600 holding the recognition, this puts us in the top 5 percent of business schools worldwide--no mean feat in itself.

We are one of only 177 business schools that are accredited in both business and accounting. This elite status is due in no small part to our exceptional Department of Accounting.

The first-ever official reception for the UO Accounting Alumni Network took place in the UO Portland White Stag building in June. The event brought together Portland-area grads from a wide range of eras: "We had a fellow who graduated in 1957, and then somebody who graduated last year, and everything in between," recalled accounting instructor Michele Henney, one the event's organizers and the department's external relations manager.

With the warmer weather and (at least a few) sunnier days, comes another inevitable spring ritual: tax day. Luckily for the tax-phobic among us, help is at hand. Starting each February, members of the UO branch of the national accounting society Beta Alpha Psi team up with law students to offer free tax preparation to students and area residents, as part of VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), a nationwide program run by the Internal Revenue Service. Still haven't filed? You're in luck--VITA volunteers will be available two more Saturdays: April 9 and April 16, from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.