Accounting graduate student Dalia De Jesus Nolasco Ortega will receive a prestigious $10,000 scholarship after recently being named Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar.
Ortega said the scholarship will help pay for most of the Master of Accounting degree she’s now pursuing at Collat. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting in April.
“It is a privilege to be named a scholar for accounting and PCAOB,” she said.
PCAOB opens a new websiteis a nonprofit corporation that oversees auditors of issuers and broker-dealers. It has awarded academic scholarships to undergraduate and graduate accounting students since 2011. As of 2022, the program had awarded 1,623 students from 474 institutions more than $18 million in scholarship funds.
Ortega transferred to UAB in 2021 from Northeast Alabama Community College and immediately got involved. As an undergraduate, she was a Collat Scholar, a member of the honor society Beta Alpha Psi opens a new website, and served as a Collat Business Peer Mentor.
In just two years at UAB, she also served as an executive board member of the University Programs Board, director of finance for the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi, and the industrial and materials analyst for the Green and Gold Fund.
Her involvement was noticed by accounting professor Eddie Nabors and her advisor, Jessica Smith, who jointly nominated her for the scholarship.
“Dalia clearly meets the requirements and intentions of the PCAOB Scholars Program, including demonstrating an interest in auditing and the necessary skills to be successful,” Nabors said. “Dalia is an outstanding student and very self-motivated. She has completed three accounting internships, which is very unusual, and demonstrated her dedication to learning and growing professionally. All of UAB should be proud of Dalia.”
Currently, Ortega is on track to earn her Master of Accounting degree and will sit for the CPA exam next year. Her advice for current undergraduate students looking to apply for scholarships is to talk to their advisors and professors.
“They are here to help,” she said. “Whenever you want to pursue opportunities, they’re always there for you. If there’s a scholarship that you’re interested in and aren’t sure that you’re going to get it, apply for it.”
She also encourages students to take advantage of activities and leadership opportunities.