WILTON CT - February 5, 2007 - The Deloitte Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, today announced the 2007 recipients of fellowship grants through the organization’s Doctoral Fellowship Program. Grants totaling $250,000 will be awarded to 10 doctoral students in accounting, who will join more than 900 outstanding scholars who have received financial support since the program was founded more than 50 years ago.

"We are proud to continue our legacy of providing financial support for a program that gives exceptional students the resources to complete their doctoral degrees in accounting and to pursue careers in teaching and accounting research," said Shaun Budnik, President of the Deloitte Foundation. "Advancing opportunities for talented professionals to complete their PhDs in accounting is a critical issue facing our profession today. We’ve already seen the tremendous impact these scholars have had on our profession -- both in terms of the quality of research they have produced and the passion they have brought to teaching the next generation of accountants."

The nationally-conducted program invites applications from nearly 100 universities. The doctoral students, who were nominated by their university’s accounting faculty, are among the most outstanding students pursuing a doctorate in accounting. The 10 recipients were chosen by a selection committee composed of three eminent accounting educators. Professors Mark DeFond of the University of Southern California, Jane Kennedy of the University of Washington, and Edward Maydew of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill comprised this year’s selection committee.

The ten recipients of the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowships in Accounting for 2007 and the institutions they attend are:

Michael S. Drake - Texas A&M University
Pingyang Gao - Yale University
Pepa Kraft - University of Chicago
Lian Fen Lee - University of Michigan
Richard D. Mergenthaler - University of Washington
James P. Naughton - Harvard University
Jeffrey Ng - University of Pennsylvania
Jeri K. Seidman - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nathaniel M. Stephens - University of Arizona
Rong Zhao - University of Iowa

Each of the 2007 Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellows will receive $5,000 during his or her final year of course work and $20,000 during the subsequent year of completing a dissertation.

"I applaud the Deloitte Foundation for its continuing commitment toward the education of the next generation of accounting professors," said Professor Maydew, outgoing member of the Faculty Selection Committee. "The Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowships are perfectly timed to provide significant financial support during the dissertation phase, when Ph.D. students tend to be most in need; awards such as these can often make the difference between staying in a Ph.D. program or dropping out. As a past recipient of a Deloitte Foundation Fellowship, I know firsthand the impact that it can have on a student."

About the Deloitte Foundation

The Deloitte Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that supports teaching, research, and curriculum innovation in accounting, business, and related fields within the U.S. The Foundation, founded in 1928, supports an array of national programs, which are relevant to a variety of professional services, and which benefit undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. For more information, please visit the Deloitte Foundation web page at http://www.deloitte.com/us/df.

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