Spears accounting student Justin Kanipe recipient of $750 OSCPA scholarship

Monday, June 29, 2015

Justin Kanipe recently received a $750 scholarship from the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants, courtesy of Robert Cornell, head of Oklahoma State University’s School of Accounting.

Cornell was honored June 5 with the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants 2015 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award. In conjunction with receiving this award, he is given a scholarship to pass on to a deserving accounting student. Cornell selected Kanipe to be awarded the scholarship.  

Kanipe originally thought he wanted a career in the medical field. A student at Tulsa Community College, Kanipe made the switch to Oklahoma State realizing the medical courses he took were not where he saw himself in the future. Kanipe then decided that accounting would be the major for him.

“I saw that it could be a good opportunity for me to be successful and so I chose accounting,” Kanipe said.

During his sophomore year of college his roommate suggested that the two consider joining the military. After attending a recruiting session, he decided to join the Air National Guard in Tulsa.

“The Air Force emphasizes integrity and with the accounting profession I’m looking to pursue, it’s synonymous,” Kanipe said. “Our majors, our professions are full of integrity and without that the profession ultimately fails.”

Kanipe will complete work on both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in accounting in the spring of 2016.

Cornell has been an accounting professor at OSU since 2006. In addition to his duties as a professor and department head, Cornell is also the academic integrity coordinator for the OSU School of Accounting, runs the Summer in London Study Abroad Program and serves as the Spears School of Business faculty council representative.