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KPMG Foundation Awards $410,000 in Scholarships to 41 Minority Accounting Doctoral Students

NEW YORK, July 16 PRNewswire-USNewswire — The KPMG Foundation today announced it has granted $410,000 in scholarship awards to 41 minority doctoral students for the 2008-2009 academic year as part of its Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholarship program. The scholarships are part of a broad effort by the Foundation to increase the number of minority students and professors in business schools.

"Increasing the number of minority Ph.D. recipients and business school professors helps pave the way for countless others who will benefit from more diverse campuses around the nation," said Bernard J. Milano, President of the KPMG Foundation and The PhD Project. "This year's Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship recipients are already strong leaders and we're pleased to continue providing financial support and guidance to help them pursue their laudable goals."

This year, the Foundation granted 10 new awards of $10,000 each and renewed 31 awards of $10,000 each. Scholarships are renewable for a total of five years at $10,000 a year.

In conjunction with The PhD Project, a related program whose mission is to increase the diversity of business school faculty, the Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholarship program has helped to more than triple the number of minority business professors in the U.S. since The PhD Project first began in 1994. Today there are 909 minority business school professors teaching in the United States. More than 400 minority students are currently enrolled in business doctoral programs with another 45-50 scheduled to start this September. The Foundation has earmarked more than $8.6 million in scholarships to date, providing financial support to approximately three-fourths of all minority accounting doctoral students in the nation.

"We continue to be pleased with the significant and growing impact of the KPMG Foundation's Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship program in our nation's business schools," said Manny Fernandez, national managing partner of university relations and recruiting at KPMG LLP. "More minority professors results in a greater pool of role models and mentors for other minorities, an important contributor to inspiring greater minority representation in accounting and other business fields."

New KPMG Foundation Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship recipients expected to begin a doctoral program this fall include:

* Abigail M. Allen, Harvard University * Beau Barnes, Texas Tech University * Christopher Bell, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville * Stephania Mason, Rutgers University * Leah Ellen Muriel, University of Tennessee * R. Christopher Small, Harvard University * Adrienne C. Rhodes, Pennsylvania State University * Kerri-Ann Sanderson, Florida Atlantic University * Anissa Truesdale, University of South Florida * Phebe Davis-Culler, Florida Atlantic University

KPMG Foundation Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship program

The KPMG Foundation Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship program aims to further increase the completion rate among African-American, Hispanic-American and Native American doctoral students in accounting, and is part of a larger commitment by the KPMG Foundation to increase minority representation not only in accounting programs at colleges and universities, but in the American work force. The program complements The PhD Project, a separate 501(c )(3) organization that the KPMG Foundation founded in 1994, and which recruits minority professionals from business into doctoral programs in all business disciplines. The PhD Project attacks the root cause of minority under-representation in corporate jobs: historically, very few minority college students study business as an entree to a corporate career. Diversifying the faculty attracts more minorities to study business and better prepares all students to function in a diverse workforce.

KPMG Foundation

The KPMG Foundation is a 501(c )(3) private foundation. The Foundation operates on donations from KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm. For fiscal year 2008, KPMG donated $6.5 million to the Foundation. Through the KPMG Foundation, the firm has spent 40 years supporting and developing programs to enhance business education.

Contact: Manuel Goncalves/Dan Ginsburg

KPMG LLP Tel: (201) 307-7735/8270

SOURCE The KPMG Foundation

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