Tag: accounting

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REAL People: Cheliss Thayer

Cheliss Thayer

Our REAL People of the College of Business series continues with Cheliss Thayer. Cheliss started at the college this winter and has the easily-rolls-off-the-tongue title of accounting administrative program specialist — she helps support the college’s accounting faculty and programs.

Here’s more about Cheliss, in her own words:

“I was born and raised in Central California in the small town of Placerville, just west of Tahoe. I graduated from Smith Flat High School in 2010 and moved to Oregon that fall to attend LBCC. I worked full time while attending school part time so that I could gain residency. I graduated from LBCC in 2013 with my AS in English-Writing. I began at Western Oregon University in the winter of 2014 and will graduate from WOU after this term with my BS in humanities – Writing & Linguistics. Because of working all through my schooling career, I will graduate with no debt. I’m also the first person in my family to attend and graduate college!

“While attending LBCC, I met my now husband, Jared. Together, we started a construction company, Thayer Construction, that has been serving the Corvallis community for almost two years now. This summer, we also adopted Jared’s sister, Emma (15), who is now a sophomore at Corvallis High School.

“Aside from professional endeavors, my family loves to travel! I spent the summer of 2011 living in Malta, and have toured through England, Scotland, France, Greece and the state of Montana (among a few others). In our house, we have three large maps (Oregon, USA and the world) on the walls with little pins tagging where we’ve been and where we want to go. At this point, we have quite the extended list of ‘to go’ places that we’re looking forward to tackling. My family is very important in my life. Coming from a family of five kids, we stick pretty close together. Currently, we live about five blocks from one set of grandparents (both over 80) who share our love of travel. This last summer, we took a 2,400-plus mile road trip with them. I also teach dance classes at a local dance studio in Corvallis in the evenings, knit, make jewelry, read (a whole lot), write and cook.

“I started working at the College of Business this last December and am looking forward to the future opportunities here.”

Cheliss Thayer

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Accounting student finds $10,000 scholarship lost in the stacks

This July Oregon State College of Business student Scott Schaub went to his parents’ home and started one of the many rituals of returning students: He opened the stack of piled-up mail left in his old bedroom.

Tucked away in the pile he found a two-month-old letter announcing he earned a $10,000 scholarship from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

“It turns out the letter had been sent in May, yet for some reason my parents failed to mention they had placed all of this mail in my room,” Schaub said. “I don’t think I will ever let them live that one down.”

Congress established the PCAOB as part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The nonprofit oversees the audits of public companies to protect investors and the public interest.

The act also established a scholarship for accounting students funded by penalties paid to the board.

This is the third year the PCAOB has awarded the scholarships. Each year it selects institutions from across the country to nominate students for the honor, and this year chose Oregon State as one of 77 to participate.

Oregon State Professor of Accounting Roger Graham was impressed by Schaub’s enthusiasm in one of his classes and nominated the then-junior for the scholarship.

“Scott’s one of those really smart students the College of Business gets, but what I liked most was how outgoing and engaged he was in class,” Graham said. “He’s the kind of student professors really like because he talks in class, engages and really tries to understand the material.”

Schaub, a dual major in accounting and finance, said he stumbled into accounting after taking his first introductory course in the College of Business.

“I really enjoyed the fact that the subject matter is applicable to all types of businesses and I felt it would open doors to a variety of industries,” he said.

Schaub spent the summer interning for Geffen Mesher in Portland, but kept up with Graham to see if there was any news of the scholarship.

“We kept emailing back and forth, have you heard anything?” Graham said. “Then he sent me this link that said Oregon State had received a scholarship and wanted to know if maybe someone else had gotten it.”

That was when Schaub went back home and found the notice, officially naming him as a scholarship recipient. This is the first time PCAOB has awarded the scholarship to an Oregon State student.

“To be honest, I had no expectation of being awarded the scholarship, but was thankful and flattered to have been considered.”