NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The KPMG Foundation today announced it has awarded a total of $400,000 in scholarships to 40 minority accounting doctoral students for the 2011-2012 academic year. ?

The students include 10 new recipients and 30 students whose scholarships have been renewed. ?Each scholarship is valued at $10,000 and renewable annually for up to five years.

"The KPMG Foundation is proud of the very positive influence it has had in helping to increase the number of diverse faculty members at our nation's colleges and universities," said Jose Rodriguez, KPMG Foundation chairperson. ?"The Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholarship will play a critical role in transforming these 40 talented students into educators who will shape tomorrow's business leaders."

Since 1994, the KPMG Foundation has awarded over $10 million to 297 African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native American scholars pursuing doctorate degrees, as part of its ongoing commitment to increase the representation of minority students and professors in business schools. ?Today, 194 of those scholarship recipients have successfully completed their doctoral program and are professors at universities throughout the country.

KPMG Foundation also supports The PhD Project, a related program aimed at increasing the diversity of business school faculty. Since its inception in 1994, The PhD Project has increased the number of minority business professors from 294 to 1,084.

"Business leaders realize success by understanding the complexities of a global marketplace," says Stacy Sturgeon, KPMG LLP's national managing partner of university relations and recruiting. "These lessons begin in the classroom and diverse educational environments provide future leaders with the perspective that is necessary to thrive in their professions."

The new recipients and their Ph.D. affiliations are:

• Herita Akamah, University of Oklahoma
• Brandon Ater, Virginia Tech.
• Matthew Driskill, University of Florida
• Brent Garza, University of Illinois Urbana
• Stephanie Hairston, University of Memphis
• Suzanne Perry, University of North Texas
• Anywhere Sikochi, Pennsylvania State University
• Andreya Marie Silva, University of Miami
• Stephen Smith, University of Alabama
• Porschia Thomas Quinn, University of Memphis

KPMG Foundation Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholarship program

The KPMG Foundation Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholarship program aims to further increase the completion rate among African-American, Hispanic-American and Native American doctoral students in accounting, and is part of a larger commitment by the KPMG Foundation to increase minority representation not only in accounting programs at colleges and universities, but in the American work force. The program complements The PhD Project, a separate 501(c)(3) organization that the KPMG Foundation founded in 1994, which recruits minority professionals from business into doctoral programs in all business disciplines. The PhD Project attacks the root cause of minority under-representation in corporate jobs: historically, very few minority college students study business as an entree to a corporate career. ?Diversifying the faculty attracts more minorities to study business and better prepares all students to function in a diverse workforce.

KPMG Foundation

The KPMG Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation. The Foundation operates on donations from KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm. ?For fiscal year 2011, KPMG donated over $6.3 million to the Foundation. Through the KPMG Foundation, the firm has spent over 40 years supporting and developing programs to enhance business education.

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International.") ?KPMG International's member firms have 138,000 professionals, including more than 7,900 partners, in 150 countries.

Contact: Leticia Parquer ?
KPMG LLP
201-307-8259
lparquer@kpmg.com

SOURCE KPMG Foundation