After five years, the department is saying goodbye to Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy, and welcoming Chris Hogan as the new department chairperson.

Samba will be joining the Dean’s team, and he will be the first to occupy the position of Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement. Samba’s accomplishments as department chair over the past five years include:

  • hired seven new, outstanding faculty members
  • directed significant curriculum innovation and the launch of the Business Analytics MS
  • increased financial endowments and gift account contributions
  • increased the number of endowed faculty appointments
  • established alliances with the top Chinese accounting programs, corporations and public accounting firms

In a farewell email to department faculty and staff, Samba expressed his gratitude for their tremendous help, and he acknowledged the significant support from the External Advisory Board and alumni. We thank Samba for his strong leadership and wish him success in his new position within the Broad College.

The department is excited to have Chris Hogan step into the role of chairperson.  Chris is the newly named Russell E. Palmer Endowed Professor in Accounting.  She was also recently awarded the Broad College of Business Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award. Chris’ contributions to the department and the profession have been outstanding.  She was the co-director of the doctoral program in accounting, chair/member of several doctoral dissertation committees, member of the AAA Audit Committee, president of the AAA Auditing Section, three-year associate editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and editorial board member for several accounting journals. Her research on a wide variety of topics has appeared in several top-tier journals.

Chris is excited about her new job, “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as the next chair of the department.  The strength of this department is our people and their dedication to high-quality education, research, and service.  We also happen to have incredibly bright and hard-working students and alumni who make our jobs that much more enjoyable.  I am proud of the MSU legacy and look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to strengthen the reputation of our department, and also to work with Dean Gupta on implementing the Broad College strategic initiatives.”