CSUB accounting student receives prestigious IMA scholarship

John Velazquez exemplifies leadership and stellar academics

By California State University, Bakersfield

May 10^th, 2021

John Velazquez, an accounting student at California State University, Bakersfield, was announced the lone recipient of the prestigious national Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship (SCMS) by the IMA Scholarship Committee.

This scholarship recognizes students who not only perform well academically in the accounting area, but also demonstrate a high-level involvement and leadership in the promotion of management accounting. Velazquez is the first from the CSUB accounting program to receive this prestigious award sponsored by the Stuart Cameron McLeod Society of the IMA founded in 1934.

“I would like to thank the IMA for choosing me for the SCMS Memorial Scholarship. I hope to inspire many more students to be involved in our chapter and develop leadership skills that will propel them to successful careers.” said Velazquez, “I am also grateful to the accounting program at CSUB which provides great opportunities and abundant resources for me to develop and grow.”

Velazquez serves as Chapter President of the IMA Chapter at CSUB. Velazquez was in an intern with Grimmway Farms in the summer of 2020 and is currently a tax intern with Daniels Phillips Vaughan & Bock CPAs and Advisors, a public accounting firm in Bakersfield.

“John is one of the best accounting students that I have ever taught since I joined CSUB. His leadership, professionalism and commitment to the accounting profession are outstanding,” said Dr. Di Wu, interim department chair of the Accounting and Finance Department and faculty advisor of IMA Chapter at CSUB. “I believe that drive to succeed of this first-generation college student, trying to make a difference and being recognized as a top-notch accounting student leader by one of the most influential accounting professional associations in the world, is truly inspiring.”

CSUB is the fifth campus in the CSU system to have an IMA student chapter. In June 2019. CSUB accounting students placed in the final four teams of the IMA National Student Case Competition, which makes CSUB the first among West Coast Universities receiving this prestigious honor.

“We are very pleased and proud of John Velazquez in his selection for the IMA SCMS Memorial Scholarship! This award acknowledges both John’s great work to date in his accounting program, as well as his potential as a leader in the accounting profession,” said Dr. John Stark, interim dean of School of Business and Public Administration. “The work of our entire accounting team here at CSUB is positively reflected in John’s success and the success he is set up for in the future. Congratulations to John Velazquez for a job very well done!”