A retired Ball State accounting professor and an accounting graduate working in Brazil were among a group of business leaders honored Sept. 8 during the third annual Miller College of Business Awards Dinner. 

Paul Parkinson, chairman emeritus of the college's accounting department, and Tony Smith, director of SASA Capital Markets Center for Ernst & Young in Brazil, were inducted into the Miller College of Business Hall of Fame.

Membership in the Hall of Fame is presented to individuals holding a position of distinction in business, government or academe who demonstrated outstanding success in his or her field. The nominee also is recognized as a civic leader as exemplified through volunteer efforts and is typically a supporter of Ball State.

Parkinson returned to his alma mater as a professor in the accounting department in 1966, and six years later he began his 29-year tenure as department chair, playing a leading role in growing the department and helping the college achieve accreditation.

Under Parkinson's leadership the accounting department grew from six to 18 faculty members and Ball State became the first public university in the state to earn AACSB accreditation for its accounting program. He also led the faculty and staff fundraising during Ball State's Wings of the Future capital campaign as well as the effort to endow a distinguished professorship in accounting.

Smith, who graduated in 1968 from Ball State, was honored not only for a distinguished 35-year career with Ernst & Young, but for his recent assignment to open a Capital Markets Center for Ernst & Young in Sao Paulo, Brazil, serving all of South America.

Before accepting the post, in which he oversees Securities and Exchange Commission foreign private issuers in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru, Smith was assigned to the national office of Ernst & Young.  

Alumni who received Awards of Distinction included Douglas Bowers, Banc of America Leasing and Capital; Sheryl Conley, Zimmer Inc.; Kenneth DePaola Jr., Chicago Tribune; and Terry Walker, Muncie Power Products Inc.

Alumni receiving Awards of Achievement included Gregory Beyerl, Sign Craft Industries; Ron Brumbarger, BitWise Solutions Inc.; Mary Frances Luce, Duke University; and James Stratman, Enviroplas Inc.

Background information on each honoree may be found online at www.bsu.edu/business/06alumniawards.