Finding the right balance
Mehrzad Azmi, associate professor in the Department of Accounting, finds fun in the details of accounting. For her, fitting pieces of information together to see the big picture is an enjoyable and satisfying puzzle.
As a student, Mehrzad Azmi embraced the practicality of her accounting classes and loved the idea that everything she was learning was being used by accountants in the real world. Now, with a Ph.D. in accounting from Rutgers University under her belt, Azmi keeps her eye on the big picture and the future of possibilities in the real world for her students.
She formerly served as the faculty adviser for the student honors accounting organization, Beta Alpha Psi, where she connected with and advises students who are the best of the best. “Our Beta Alpha Psi students are bright, hardworking, motivated and not afraid to take on challenges,” Azmi says.
“ I get to do my own research in the area that I enjoy and am also in touch with students. We get a lot of motivated and hardworking students who truly see the value of education. ”
Unafraid of challenges herself, Azmi has recently begun doing environmental research with some of her TU colleagues. She acknowledges that environmental issues and accounting are not words typically linked. But she explains that the extent to which companies report their environmental issues and the impact of these issues on their financial positions is becoming a hot area in accounting research.
In addition, she has studied and employs textual analysis, a methodology of communications research that examines visual, written, and spoken messages in an attempt to quantify data for use in finance and accounting
Azmi likes the balance that Towson offers her as a professor. “I get to do my own research in the area that I enjoy and am also in touch with students. We get a lot of motivated and hardworking students who truly see the value of education.”