Ana Cruz Author & Editor

Dr. Ana Cruz is Chair of the Business Department at Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, where she utilizes her extensive experience in the areas of general business, management, accounting, and taxes. She has worked in the service, retailing, and manufacturing industries, as well as in the federal government sector, where she served as a field examiner for the Internal Revenue Service. Dr. Cruz, a certified public accountant, has published several articles in business journals, has participated in several SACS On-Site Committees, and has received the Southeast Banking Corporation Foundation Endowed Teaching Chair (1998) and the Wolfson Senior Foundation Endowed Teaching Chair (2002). She was also named the Professor of the Year for the State of Florida by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation (2005). Michael P. Deschamps received a bachelor of science degree in accounting, graduating magna cum laude from the University of San Diego, where he served as the chapter president for Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting honor society. After working in public accounting and obtaining his CPA license, he returned to San Diego State University, where he earned a master's degree in taxation and a certificate in financial planning. In addition, he earned his Enrolled Agent Certificate in 2004. HE is currently the lead accounting instructor at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, CA, where he has developed a highly regarded tax program certified by the State of California. He is an active member of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges (TACTYC) and has been a frequent presenter on tax topics at the organization's national conventions. He has also given presentations on tax issues to a variety of organizations. Dr. Frederick (Rick) Niswander is Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at East Carolina University. He holds a doctor of philosophy degree from Texas A&M University and a bachelor of science in business administration degree from Idaho State University. He has taught introductory financial accounting, international accounting, intermediate accounting, and a graduate accounting course that encompasses taxation, financial, and governmental accounting. Prior to obtaining his doctorate and joining the ECU faculty in 1993, he was the chief financial officer of a privately held real estate company in Phoenix, Arizona, for eight years. Dr. Niswander first became a CPA in 1981 and has been a North Carolina CPA since 1994. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of CPAs, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Accounting Association. He has held leadership roles in the American Institute of CPAs including chair of the Board of Examiner and as a member of the AIPCA Board of Directors. Dr. Debra Prendergast has a doctor of philosophy degree in public policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a master's of business administration degree from Governors State University, and a bachelor of arts degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Saint Xavier University in Chicago. She is a licensed and practicing certified public accountant in Illinois and a certified management accountant. She began her professional accounting career as a management advisory services consultant with Grant Thornton before taking a position as the controller for a corporation in Chicago. To spend more time with her family, she left her controller position in 1988 and began a 21-year career with Northwestern College. In 2010, Dr. Prendergast became the dean of Business, Mathematics, and Science at Prairie State College. She served as an officer on the board of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges (TACTYC) and on the Precertification Education Executive committee of the AICPA. Dr. Dan Schisler is a Professor and Research Fellow in the Accounting Department at East Carolina University. He holds a doctor of philosophy degree from Memphis State University, a master's degree in accounting- tax concentration from Auburn University, and a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Southeastern Louisiana University. In addition to public accounting experience with Peat Marwick Main & CO, Dr. Schisler has published numerous articles in national academic and practitioner journals such as Journal of the American Taxation Association, Advances in Taxation, and Accounting Horizons. HE teaching tax and accounting at the graduate and undergraduate levels at East Carolina, where he has been recognized for teaching excellence by numerous teaching awards at the department, school, and university levels. Dr. Schisler holds CPA certificates in North Carolina and Louisiana.