Biography

Jerry Olson, Chair and Professor of Accounting at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been a member of the IWU Accounting Faculty since 1986. He served as chair of the Business Administration Department for six years from 1995 to 2001. He currently teaches Advanced Financial Accounting, Auditing, Intermediate Financial Accounting, and is the director of the IWU Accounting Internship program. He organized and advises the IWU Student Accounting Society. Jerry's research interests lie in the scholarship of teaching. He is currently conducting research with a colleague on employment issues for women in accounting. In addition, he conducts seminars addressing a variety of topics for accounting practitioners.

Jerry is a member of the AICPA, the Illinois CPA Society, and the American Accounting Association. He has held numerous leadership positions in a variety of ICPAS committees and task forces including: the 150 Hour Task Force; Education Summit Task Force; Accounting Education and CPA Issues Task Force; Accounting Education Grants Committee; and Audit and Assurance Services. He is completing a two year term as a member of the Board of Directors and is a vice president elect for 2006/2007. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of the CPA Endowment fund of Illinois for 4 years, 1 as treasurer. Currently, he is the treasurer of the Central Illinois Chapter of the ICPAS. In 1992-1993, Jerry served as President of the Central Illinois Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants. He was a member of the State Farm Companies Foundation Exceptional Student Fellowship committee for 4 years, 1 as chair.

In 2004/2005 Jerry developed and implemented the Accounting Leaders of Tomorrow (ALOT) program. ALOT is a week-long residency program hosted on the IWU campus designed to introduce Chicago Public high school students to the world of accounting/business and college life. Thirty students from 20 different high schools participated in the first program. ALOT 2006 is planned for June.

Jerry received his M.S. in Accounting, his M.S. in Business Education, and his B.S. in Business Administration from Illinois State University. He previously taught at Illinois State University and Illinois Valley Community College. Prior to starting his teaching career, Jerry was an internal auditor for a large commercial bank. He has completed faculty internships in public accounting and in internal auditing.