FIU Director of School of Accounting assumes state-level post

MIAMI (June 4, 2009) – The Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) has elected Sharon Lassar, director of Florida International University’s School of Accounting, to the position of vice president of the executive committee for 2009-2010. An active member of the FICPA since 1999, Lassar has held several volunteer positions, including chairwoman of financial literacy, chairwoman of accounting shows such as the organization’s popular continuing professional education event, FABexpo.

In addition to her membership on the FICPA Board of Governors, Lassar serves on the corporate advisory board for the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA), the audit advisory committee for the City of Miami and the Minority Initiatives Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

She has served U.S. taxpayers as site coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and as minority issues chairwoman of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, to which she was appointed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil.

Lassar’s award-winning research has been published in journals such as Journal of Accountancy, Taxes – The Tax Magazine, The CPA Journal, The Journal of Legal Tax Research and The Tax Adviser.

Honored as the 2005 Educator of the Year by the American Woman’s Society of Certified Public Accountants for her contributions to accounting education and dedication to students, she also was voted best professor by the Executive Master of Taxation students at Florida International University

Lassar earned her Ph.D at the University of Southern California, her master’s degree in taxation at Bentley College and her bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia University.

Media contact: Jean-Paul Renaud at 305-348-2716. 

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About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will welcome its first class in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.