The Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Accounting Association honored a former Kent State accounting professor who is still impacting the community even after retirement.

The OSCPA named Norman Meonske the 2011’s Outstanding Accounting Educator at the American Accounting Association Ohio Region meeting, May 13. Meonske will be recognized again this Thursday at OSCPA’s Members Summit & Annual Meeting in Columbus.

“I was absolutely surprised,” Meonske said, adding that he never applied this year, but his information from last year was sent over anyway.

Before retiring in 2010, Meonske taught various classes online and on campus in the department of accounting, including auditing, advanced accounting systems, advanced management accounting and corporate accounting. Meonske also served as the accounting internship coordinator.

Meonske said his most impactful accomplishment during his 38-year legacy was launching, with the help of Institute of Management Accountants, a professional development conference that gathers 600 accountants and educators to campus every April for two days.

The conference, which was renamed the Meonske Professional Development Conference seven years ago, features panel discussions and speakers comprised of individuals like Mark LaMonte, managing director and chief credit officer for Moody’s Global Financial Institutions groups, and Mark Bielstein, partner-in-charge of KPMG’s Professional Practice-Audit. Meonske said several guests have told him it is one of the top four accounting conferences in the nation.

In addition to the OSCPA award, Meonske has also been the recipient of the Institute of Management Accountant’s lifetime achievement award, the R. Lee Brummert professor of the year award and the Ohio Council IMA’s distinguished service award.

Meonske said he is planning to launch a campaign to gather more funds to help finance the Norman R. Meonske Endowed Scholarship Fund, a scholarship program for Kent State students interested in becoming certified public accountants. Meonske said word-of-mouth alone has already gathered $100,000 for the scholarship fund.

Contact Summer Kent Stater reporter Simon Husted at [email protected].