DIVERSITY
WORK IN PROGRESS The VSCPA continues to strive to address diversity and inclusion issues in the accounting profession in Virginia. Here are some of the initiatives we’ve launched, along with the new Ruth Coles Harris Advancing Diversity & Inclusion Award:
Diversity & Inclusion Board Task Force: This task force, part of our Board of Directors, launched in June. They’ll be recommending VSCPA efforts to influence and support advancing diversity and inclusion in the profession.
CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion: The VSCPA will sign the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge. Visit tinyurl.com/CEOdiversitypledge for more info.
VSCPA Values: As part of its official values, the VSCPA approved this value statement in 2018: “Foster a collaborative, inclusive environment that values and reflects a diversity of people, cultures and perspectives.”
VSCPA Minority Scholarship: This scholarship is awarded annually to minority accounting students.
CPA Ready Workshops: One of these events, aimed at preparing students for entry into the profession, will be held at a historically black college or university in 2020.
VSCPA Women’s Leadership Forum: Set for Dec. 11 at the Richmond CPA Center and simulcast online, this event will bring women together to promote female empowerment in the workplace and everyday life.
You Can Afford College Workshops: These 2017 events were launched with a grant from The Accountants’ Coalition and brought CPA financial experts to underserved, majorityminority communities to discuss college financing options.
Learning and education: The VSCPA is presenting ongoing diversity and inclusion topics in its free member webinars, along with other learning events.
Telling stories: The VSCPA has focused on ethnic diversity and women in themed months in recent years as part of its ongoing marketing strategy to represent the diversity of the profession and VSCPA membership.
20
DISCLOSURES
•
JULY/AUGUST 2019
mindful of her uncompromising reputation and ended up counting her as a mentor to this day. “I was so afraid of all the stories that I had heard,” said Lewis, who added that Harris addressed all students by their last names until they graduated to reinforce a sense of professionalism. “I remember being really worried when I found out I was going to have her as a professor, and it ended up being the best thing that could have happened for me.” Harris took a similar approach to the accounting club at VUU, which she sponsored. She required professional dress at every meeting to help prepare her students for the corporate world. She had a keen sense of just when to push students, like when she encouraged Lewis to apply for an extremely competitive internship at Nestle USA. Lewis thought she had no chance at getting one of the 10 spots, but applied anyway at Harris’s urging. The decision has reverberated throughout her career. “The auditor at Nestle was from my current firm,” Lewis said. “That’s how I was exposed to KPMG, from talking to those auditors, and that was one way I got this job here. If Dr. Harris hadn’t pushed me, I don’t know if I would be here. “Big firms didn’t come to Virginia Union to recruit. We had to mail in our resumes to get those opportunities. She forced us to always push ourselves.” Harris retired in 1997 and was named a Distinguished Professor Emerita, but an even greater honor was in store. The following year, VUU conferred upon her an honorary degree. Last year, VUU launched the Ruth Coles Harris Leadership Institute, which offers a lecture series on business and community issues and a certificate program for professionals in entrepreneurship, organizational change and leadership, nonprofit and church administration and project management. Midway through her career, Harris earned her doctorate in education from the College of William & Mary, one of the schools that wouldn’t have even looked at her as an undergraduate. She downplays the significance of that breakthrough, but later in her career, she took an adult class at the University of Virginia (U.Va.), just a few blocks from where she grew up, for more symbolic reasons. “I just went up there and took a course just because I could. It wasn’t even a class that was anything related to accounting. It was just, ‘What do you offer of interest to me at a time that’s convenient for me?’” Official racial barriers started to crumble after the passage of the
