Ms. Amy Murphy ('88, '92) was honored at the School of Accountancy Awards Ceremony on April 18th as the 2019 Outstanding Alumna.

Ms. Murphy graduated from Auburn University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and in 1992 with a Master of Accountancy. After finishing her undergraduate degree, Amy worked for Ernst & Young and served clients in banking and health care. After finishing her graduate degree, Amy taught for one year and knew she had found her calling. In January 1994, she was named director of the Master of Accountancy Program.

Amy is responsible for many of the School of Accountancy’s highly awarded and nationally respected initiatives and programs. She developed the formal internship program in 2000 and five online accounting programs over the past 18 years, leading the online MAcc Program to #6 in U.S. News & World Report in 2018 and developing the first online undergraduate degree program at Auburn. In 2005, Amy pioneered a change to the MAcc curriculum that allows students to sit for and pass the CPA Exam before graduation. This has resulted in amazing pass rates for students and national recognition for the program. Amy established The SOA Connection, the alumni magazine, and served as editor for 18 years. She also developed the Accounting Roadmap to Success, the SOA’s undergraduate recruiting and program guidance brochure. Amy served as Beta Alpha Psi and Financial Leadership Society faculty advisor for a decade and has taught Principles of Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting I, and Professional Development in Accountancy.

Her many honors demonstrate exemplary leadership and service as a role model. Her most recent recognitions include the Auburn University Faculty Woman of Distinction Award 2019, Auburn University SGA’s Final Lecture Nominee 2018, Beta Alpha Psi Outstanding Teacher Award 2017, Alabama Society of CPAs Outstanding Accounting Educator Award 2017, Amy B. Murphy Endowed Distinguished Professorship established by alumni and faculty in 2017, and the naming of the Beta Alpha Psi Amy B. Murphy Service Award in 2015.

Amy exemplifies the Auburn spirit and lives the Auburn Creed. Her commitment to excellence has been unwavering, and she continues to lead with passion and excitement, inspiring her students to be the best they can be. We are proud to name her our 2019 Outstanding Alumna.

A transcript of her acceptance speech is shown below.

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Thank you. I am so humbled and honored to be named the 2019 Outstanding Alumna.

First, I would like to thank God for putting MENTORS in my life who encouraged me to enroll at Auburn almost 33 years ago.  

John Maxwell, a renowned speaker and author on leadership, once said “One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” 

To my Auburn mentors and professors, Dr. Wayne Alderman, Dr. Gary Waters, and Dr. Rick Tabor, who are here with me tonight, thank you for always seeing something in me that I didn’t see in myself and for helping me reach MY destination of serving students in higher education.

To my School of Accountancy Directors, thank you for always supporting me and giving me the autonomy to develop, build, and run programs in a manner that would benefit our amazing students and employers.

To our faculty and staff, thank you for your dear friendships and for all you do to make our programs and students successful!

To my current and former students, thank you for allowing me to serve as YOUR mentor, advisor and teacher.  You truly ARE my heart and soul, and I love you dearly!

To my parents, who are now deceased, thank you for teaching me to live the Auburn Creed, LONG before I became an Auburn woman. 

From the first day I stepped foot on campus in 1986, I KNEW I belonged. But, I didn’t know, at the time, what it would mean to be a part of Auburn and to become an Auburn woman.  And, NOW I do.   

David Housel describes it best, and this is exactly how I feel about our beloved Auburn, and I quote. “Auburn is much more than a football game. It is much more than winning and losing. It is a spirit. It is an attitude. It is a way of looking at life and at one another. It is, almost, a way of living. Unless you have experienced it, you will never know what it is, you will never understand it. Once you have experienced it, you will never be the same.”

As I stand here tonight and accept this award, there is one thing I know for sure, that I will forevermore, be an Auburn woman.

Thank You, God bless, and War Eagle!