Tax News - Fall 2002

School of Taxation Newsletter
Fall 2002
By Dean Barbara Karlin

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I will be leaving the School of Taxation in August as I transition into my new position within the university - Vice President of Academic Affairs. It is difficult for me to say goodbye to the School of Tax after being a faculty member and dean for so many years. However, the school is very fortunate to have wonderful faculty and two very able folks ready to step into the leadership roles.

Mary Canning, currently serving as the Associate Dean of the School of Taxation, will assume the deanship effective August 1. Mary has been with the school for many years, serving in a variety of capacities. While a senior manager with Big 5 (now 4!) accounting firms, Mary taught for the school as an adjunct professor. Since 1997, Mary has been a terrific Associate Dean of the School of Taxation as well as Associate Professor. As Director of our full-time program, Mary played a large role in the growth of the tax school. To top it off, Mary is a fantastic teacher, being the proud recipient of the University's Outstanding Scholarship of Teaching Award for full time faculty. I know her excellence will continue as Dean of the school.

Mary will be very capably served by Professor Frank Ramaizel, currently our Director of International Tax Programs and Director of the Northwest Tax Programs at GGU. Frank just recently returned from his second stint as a Fulbright Scholar in Kazakstan and is full of energy to begin his new position as Associate Dean of the School of Taxation. Frank assumed the Associate Dean responsibilities beginning July 1. The Tax School is lucky to have such outstanding leaders to work with its excellent faculty in continuing the remarkable growth the School has seen in recent years with quality as its central focus.

It is the university's custom to select from all of our wonderful adjunct faculty the one who stands above all as the most outstanding faculty member for the year. This year, the School of Tax selected Charles Rettig as our honoree.

Charles is a partner of a thriving law firm, Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Tosher & Perez, in Los Angeles. Charles has been a committed adjunct faculty member with the School of Taxation for several years, teaching primarily Tax Procedure at the Los Angeles site. In addition to this most recent honor, Charles is the recipient of the California CPA Educational Foundation's Outstanding Conference Speaker for 2000. Charles' energy and enthusiasm is contagious and very much appreciated by both the Los Angeles staff and his students!

This Spring, our Los Angeles tax students began taking GGU classes at a terrific new location in the Ernst & Young building. The new facility is located in the middle of the financial district in downtown Los Angeles (725 South Figueroa Street) and offers our students the ability to take classes in a building easier to access with high quality classrooms. To celebrate, the school held an open house for students, alums and faculty. Our Los Angeles program is growing thanks to the hard work of our excellent LA staff: Kirk Paxson, Director (part-time); Diane Comi, Core Adjunct Professor; Gloria Lara, Senior Academic Coordinator, and, Annie Arraiz, Secretary (part-time).

During the last academic year enrollment in tax courses continued to increase and surpass budgeted numbers. For the academic year just concluded the MS Tax enrollments increased by slightly over 8% from the previous year. Especially pleasing is the success enjoyed by three locations. San Francisco's main campus enrollments increased during 2001/2002 over the prior year by 21%, while the Los Angeles site realized an 8% increase and Cybercampus had a remarkable increase of 20%. Since its inception, Cybercampus has continued to succeed in fulfilling the demand for the MS Tax degree program as well as serving those interested in taking one or two refresher courses.

As a result of Cybercampus being available everywhere on the globe, the School of Taxation is able to reach an ever expanding and widely disbursed student body. In addition to the strong demand for the full MS Tax degree track, there is an increasing interest in our Certificate programs with the International Certificate showing very strong demand. Congratulations must be extended to those on the faculty and in administrative positions that helped in assisting our growing family of GGU Tax students - job well done!

As our constituency expands throughout the U.S., as well as abroad, mailing our printed course materials is becoming more and more of a challenge. In the past, mailing materials to students on the West Coast relatively quickly and in a cost efficient manner was not difficult. Now, due to increased postal scrutiny and increasing shipping costs, while having a more widely geographically disbursed group of students having them receive the materials in a timely manner is becoming difficult. To help serve the students in receiving their materials more efficiently, GGU and the bookstore are entering an agreement with Xanedu electronic publishers.

The goal is to offer the students the Tax School's printed materials in a combination package consisting of an electronic web-based and paper text. The electronic web-based version will be available to the students immediately upon purchase, while the paper text works its way to the students through the more traditional delivery systems, which could take a week or more in certain instances. Thus, the students who register late for a class will not be placed at a disadvantage by having to wait for the mail to arrive; the web based text will let them start their studies as soon s they purchase the text. We hope to commence this initiative with the Fall semester.

On September 20th, at the San Francisco main campus, Kyle Martin, GGU adjunct faculty and IRS Estate Tax attorney, will present a lunch hour seminar on developments in estate audits. Topics covered will be: Family Limited Partnership program, What to attach to the 706, Partial interest discounts, Procedural matters, and Changes in place between now and 2010. For complete details and to reserve a spot please contact Esther Tanudjaja via email at etanudja@ggu.edu.

On September 20th from 3 to 5 o'clock in the fifth floor auditorium at 536 Mission Street there will be a tax career fair, where students and potential employers can meet and share ideas and ask questions. In the past years this event has proven to be of immense help in matching students and firms with one another in beneficial manner. We expect this year's career fare to be valuable and successful in placing students. If you wish to participate, please contact Esther Tanudjaja at etanudja@ggu.edu to learn more about the event - we look forward to seeing you there.