Latest News
- Category: Latest News
Every few years, a new program director is appointed to each of Telfer’s graduate and executive-level programs. Following the favourable recommendation of the selection committee, Dean Stéphane Brutus announced Professor Walid Ben Amar as the newest PhD Program Director at the Telfer School of Management who will serve a mandate of three years from July 1st, 2022, to June 30th, 2025.
Meet the New Program Director
Walid Ben Amar is an Associate Professor of accounting at Telfer with a Master of Accounting from Université du Québec à Montréal and a PhD in Business Administration from HEC Montréal. Professor Ben Amar teaches both financial and managerial accounting courses at the undergraduate and MBA levels. He also serves on Telfer’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, driving forward Telfer’s goals for creating more inclusive and diverse programs.
History of the PhD Program at Telfer
For over 40 years, there were ambitions for Telfer to launch a PhD program under Dean François Julien’s leadership. Professor Barbara Orser stepped in alongside Danielle Bennette under the support and guidance of Dean Julien to go through the stages of creating this program. After years of dedication and considerable effort, approvals were reached in 2013 and the program was launched in 2016.
The program’s first director, Professor Silvia Bonaccio, was integral to the program’s success, after spending two years helping to build the program prior to its launch. Professor Mirou Jaana took over as program director following Professor Bonaccio’s mandate. Professor Jaana was credited with launching the first revision of the PhD program, resulting in the addition of a new field of study: Strategy and Organization.
Today, the PhD program has six key fields of study: Accounting and Control, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Health Systems, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources, and Strategy and Organization.
We celebrated the successful first Telfer PhD graduating cohort when Vusal Babashov was the first to complete his PhD in Management after successfully defending his thesis in 2021. Vusal shared that the experience of completing his PhD at Telfer made him a better person, a self-motivated leader, and an avid problem-solver.
Thank you Professor Chreim
The most recent and former PhD Director, Professor Samia Chreim, had a huge impact on the program. “Under her leadership, the progress of students in the program was remarkable, despite very difficult circumstances,” shared Dean Brutus in his announcement of this leadership change. Among other things, Professor Chreim implemented more flexibility for our PhD students, provided mental health support to students during the pandemic, organized countless information sessions, and established the PhD student lounge. Thank you to Professor Samia Chreim for her hard work and dedication to our doctoral program and its students.
- Category: Rising Stars
A passionate and driven leader, Alyssa Bourjolly is a promising third-year BCom student studying in accounting. She was inspired to study at the Telfer School because of its international recognition and faculty expertise, two key elements in providing an excellent education in Alyssa’s opinion.
Alyssa understands the importance of getting involved and how crucial it is to flourish personally and professionally. She has been involved with the School in many ways, from joining the Telfer Accounting Club (TAC) to working as Director of student engagement for the Telfer Student Council (CéTSC).
Most recently, Alyssa was elected President of the CéTSC! She is responsible for the daily operations of the Council and ensures its Executive members are fulfilling their responsibilities. Some of her tasks include serving as the liaison between the Council and the faculty and being the chief spokesperson and official representative of the CéTSC and its 13 clubs.
Alyssa benefits from her involvement, by meeting new people and creating long-lasting relationships that have greatly contributed to her student experience. She urges everyone to do the same “as it allows you to develop great academic, social and professional skills”.
Alyssa has achieved a lot since she started studying at the Telfer School, but her proudest accomplishment is being able to balance her studies, work and volunteer work. She manages to work three part-time jobs and volunteer at the CéTSC, all while maintaining a good GPA as a full-time student!
Her success would not have been possible without the support of her parents who believe in her ability to succeed in any initiative she undertakes and never fail to encourage her hard work.
Five years from now, Alyssa hopes to work in an accounting firm where she will have the opportunity to put into practice the skills she gained from Telfer – and we have no doubt she will find success in this field!
- Category: Rising Stars
Alida Burke was born and raised in Ottawa, and made the decision to study at the Telfer School of Management to have a positive impact in her community. She recently completed her fourth year of studies, specializing in Accounting. Alida has always been interested in making a positive impact in communities across Canada, which is why she joined Enactus in her first year of studies. Enactus is a student club at Telfer aimed at building social enterprises to tackle social and environmental issues in our community. During her fourth year, she held the Vice-President of Finance position. Through Enactus, Alida met another student who shared the same passion as her for the wellbeing of Canadian communities. Together, they created their own startup called The Growcer.
Click here to visit their website.
It all started when Alida decided to do something about the issues regarding food security in the Northern communities of Canada. Her company provides state-of-the-art farming systems that allow people to grow fresh produce with ease all year long. These systems are suitable for virtually any temperature, and do not require any farming experience to operate. What is interesting is the fact that this business lets people grow produce in a sustainable way, while still making profits year-round. You can find one of her farming systems at the University of Ottawa, near the Morisset library. Alida even appeared on the show “The Dragon’s Den” with her business partner to pitch her business, where she astounded everyone with her ability to manage such a revolutionary business while still studying at Telfer.
Click here to watch her appearance on The Dragon’s Den.
Not only has Alida been involved in Enactus, she has also been a Telfer Peer Mentor, a Career Centre ambassador and a Teaching Assistant for Financial Accounting! When she is not getting involved in her community, you can find Alida hiking in Gatineau Park and finding great local bookshops. Her involvement in the Telfer community has granted her many opportunities, and allowed her to meet likeminded people who have strongly enriched her student experience. Alida encourages everyone to do the same!
Her current work aspirations are to obtain her CPA and to work in a field she is passionate about, which is currently at The Growcer. Her impressive accomplishments lead us to believe she will undoubtedly find success in any field she chooses to pursue.
We wish Alida luck with her future endeavors!
Connect with Alida Burke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alidaburke/
- Category: Rising Stars
For Shokoofeh Manesh, her BCom studies with option in Accounting at the Telfer School of Management have presented opportunities to get involved on campus, allowing her to grow her network and gain invaluable skills. “They say that your university experience will only be as good as what you make of it, and getting involved with clubs at Telfer has allowed me to make my experience truly great,” stated Shokoofeh. “My involvement with clubs and associations has allowed me to make the most of my time at Telfer: not only have I made amazing friendships by getting involved, but I have also grown as a leader in my community.”
Getting involved in the Telfer Accounting Club (TAC) is where Shokoofeh found her place to thrive. She’s been part of TAC since her first year of studies, slowly climbing up the executive ladder to now serve as Co-President for the 2017-2018 academic year. In addition to TAC, Shokoofeh has been involved with Enactus, the Telfer Internal Case Competition (TICC), Jeux du commerce (JDC), and 101 Week. As a recipient of the Peter and Ann Koppel Scholarship for Excellence, Shokoofeh was able to prioritize her involvement and academic success. The scholarship rewards students who exemplify academic achievement, social responsibility, and involvement in the Telfer community. In fact, Shokoofeh noted that the skills she gained by studying at Telfer and participating in these clubs have been integral in securing and excelling in her CO-OP work terms, and most notably, her placement as Analyst for Deloitte’s Risk Advisory department.
In addition to having the opportunity to get involved, Shokoofeh said one of her main reasons for choosing the Telfer School was its French Immersion stream, which allowed her to study what she loves, business and math, while also continuing to improve her French. For high school students who are going through the process of choosing a university themselves and are considering the Telfer School of Management, Shokoofeh says, “If you want to surround yourself with students who are resourceful, innovative, and passionate, the Telfer School of Management is the place for you.”
Connect with Shokoofeh Manesh here https://www.linkedin.com/in/shokoofehm/
Also – you can follow Telfer’s LinkedIn activities here!
- Category: Rising Stars
Each year, students in the 4th-year class Case Studies in Accounting (ADM 4340) participate in a case competition in which they analyze a real company and report on accounting issues being faced by the company.
This year, a total of 72 students took part in the competition, and the best groups presented their cases in front of a panel of judges on April 13.
We would like to congratulate the winning team:
- Arya Farahani
- Dylan Humphries
- Vishwa Rachamalla
- Martina Reabel
Thank you to CPA Ontario for sponsoring the event and to Professor Sheldon Weatherstone, as well as Matt Prime, Lee Tessmer, and David Albers, who were all members of the judging panel.
- Category: Latest News
The JDC Central (JDCC) competition took place January 8-10, 2016, in Toronto, Ontario, hosted by the Canadian Association of Business Students. The JDCC competition is one of Canada’s largest business school competitions that brings together 700 delegates from 14 universities across Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes to compete in academic, sporting and social events.
Congratulations to students for winning the following:
Team Awards
- 3rd place overall, School of the Year
1st place trophy:
- Entrepreneurship (Alamin Mollick, Elliott Foley and Osman Wais)
Coach: Sara Valentino
3rd place trophies:
- Accounting Case (Jenna Curran, Regina Melnyk, Sui Qu)
Coaches: Sheldon Weatherstone, Sylvain Durocher, Nadia Daskalova - Sports – Futsal (Victor Delage, Philip Kijek, Sunny Khorugdharry, Jeff Davies, Maurizio Ferme, Selena Saikley, Madison Cunha and Samantha Mikhael)
Coach: Justin Sweeney
- Category: Rising Stars
A total of 87 students divided in groups were responsible for analyzing a case involving a real-life local or Canadian company and report on accounting issues being faced by the subject company. The best teams had to present in a live case competition that took place on December 9th, 2015. The winners received the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA) Case Competition prize for Case Studies in Accounting.
We would like to congratulate the winners:
First Place:
- Yassine Benidir
- Caroline Carrière
- Jesse Dunn
- Brandon Graham
- Brenda Lim
- Alexandre Sauvé
Second Place:
- Angela Clark
- Jenna Curran
- Nikola Karajovic
- Alison Lantos
- Taylor Anastasia Murray
Thank you to CPA Ontario for sponsoring the event and to our judges: Valerie Carey, Matthew Prime and Stefka Zaharieva.
- Category: Rising Stars
In November 2015, 10 teams of students participated in a case competition as part of their Case Studies in Accounting course.
The winning team and the team that ranked second were respectively awarded $2,000 and $1,200. These prizes are courtesy of CPA Ontario and PME Performance + Croissance Inc. All members of both teams also received a gift certificate of $100 from Logan-Katz.
The judges of the competition were Denis Chainé, CPA, CA, partner at Logan-Katz; Marie-Geneviève Bégin, CPA, CA, Chief of Internal Controls at Justice Canada and Jean-Philippe Aubé, CPA, CA, owner of PME Performance + Croissance Inc., as well as Professor Sylvain Durocher, CPA, CA.
We would like to congratulate the winning teams, from left to right:
1st place: Justin Bélanger, Jia Li, Tania Fécu Dupuy, Joël A. St-Denis, Kristjan Johannes Luik
2nd place: Rebecca Bradley, Jérémy Boileau, Marie-France Bougie, Michelle Farley
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Student Voices
The following article was written by a member of our student community. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Telfer School of Management. For more information or to flag inappropriate content, please