Loyola Professor Named 2004 Outstanding Educator
Illinois CPA Society gives top education prize to Ellen L. Landgraf

CHICAGO (May 13,2004) -- Loyola University Chicago accounting professor Ellen L. Landgraf was selected by the Illinois CPA Society as the 2004 Outstanding Educator at a four-year college or university and was honored at the society's annual CPA Awards Banquet earlier this month.

The award, according to the Illinois CPA Society, recognizes educators in Illinois who excel in their leadership and teaching, and who have made continuous and outstanding contributions to accounting education in Illinois.

"Illinois has a long history of excellence in accounting education, including leading the nation in award winners on the CPA examination. An important factor in achieving this success is the quality of accounting educators at all levels throughout the state. This year's Outstanding Educator Award winners represent this excellence at its highest levels," said Bel Needles, the society's board chairman and a DePaul University professor of accounting.

This is not the first time Landgraf, M.B.A., Ph.D., C.P.A., has been recognized by her peers. Last year in May, she was named Outstanding Undergraduate Educator by the School of Business Administration at Loyola and that same year was inducted into the Who's Who in Business Higher Education.

Landgraf, who received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Loyola in 1974, began teaching two years later at Northeastern Illinois University. In 1985, she started teaching at Loyola where she has been since except for one year when she lectured at the University of Illinois - Chicago. She was appointed associate professor at Loyola in 1995 and from 1997 to 2001 she served as the chair of Loyola's accounting department.

Landgraf has also taught at William Rainey Harper College and Elmhurst College and has held accounting positions at Kent, Givens, Barnes CPA and Arthur Young and Co. She has also published a variety of articles and has spoken at a number of industry and academic conferences. She is a member of the Illinois CPA Society, the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Financial Executives International Chicago Chapter.

"Once you are Ellen's student, you are always Ellen's student. She is selfless when it comes to helping her students, upholding the Jesuit ideal of service and education. I have no doubt she will continue to uphold this ideal," Loyola's current accounting department chairman, Lawrence Metzger, said.

From dressing in her motorcycle gear for a presentation on the Harley-Davidson company to developing team-teaching concepts and other curriculum initiatives, Landgraf has always sought to engage and motivate her students. Student motivation and course innovation, she said, go hand-in-hand.

"Since teaching my first course, I have strove for excellence. I am first a teacher, and often a student at the same time, and I have always sought to ensure teaching excellence both personally and as an administrator," Landgraf said.

###

Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation's leading Jesuit universities. Loyola University Chicago endeavors to develop in the lives of students, faculty and staff the spirit of searching for truth and living for others, which characterized Ignatius of Loyola.