Charlotte C.M.A. Takes Lead in Accounting

Her “practical side” drew Dawn Lopez, M.B.A., C.M.A. to her field. “An accounting degree opens many doors. Accounting teaches you the language of business. If you can speak the language, you can do anything in business that you want,” she says.

Lopez came to the Charlotte Campus in 2004 as accounting team lead, with extensive experience in public accounting. In March, after testing the terrain as an adjunct, she moved from campus controller to full-time professor of management accounting — the only faculty member to be a certified management accountant. Her work in the public arena underscored the distinction. “A C.P.A. does a lot of auditing, looking backward to verify the historical factualness of a statement … A C.M.A. has an opportunity to look forward and direct where you want to go,” she explains, noting the singularity of Charlotte’s program in management accounting. “A lot of schools gear students toward certified public accountant. The reality is 70 percent of accounting jobs are in private practice versus public practice,” Lopez says. At JWU, students finish with a degree in accounting, well prepped to take or having taken the C.M.A. exam.

She stands by her own career choice. “What started as a practical decision became a very passionate decision,” she says. “I don’t know if I’d be saying that if I stayed in public accounting.”

North Miami Dean Tied to Many a Graduate’s Apron Strings
On a recent trip to a culinary school in Puerto Rico, Bruce Ozga ’92, M.A., C.E.C., C.C.E., dean of culinary education at the North Miami Campus, estimated he’d taught two-thirds of the school’s faculty members. One of them tearfully thanked Ozga for the guidance that led him to teaching, telling him, “You made a difference.”

Notes, visits and calls from former students come often and are the dean’s most prized rewards in a long career in culinary arts. “That keeps you focused on the priority of giving our students the best experience we can offer,” Ozga says.

With a JWU degree in food service management, the chef worked for high-end restaurants in Connecticut and as director of culinary arts at a Texas community college. In 1997 he was hired to teach at JWU’s North Miami Campus. When the Denver Campus opened, Ozga headed west to launch culinary programs, bringing his leadership, can-do approach and skill at moving initiatives forward, back to Florida in 2005.

In his years at JWU, he’s seen culinary programs constantly improve and advance, going from recipe driven to skills driven. JWU students develop a strong work ethic, having learned by doing, not by watching as in many other institutions, he says. “We’re not necessarily training cooks; we’re training food service professionals for the career and for a lifetime.”