Donald and Donna Kieso

Donald E. Kieso, PhD, CPA, earned his bachelor’s degree from Aurora University and his doctorate in accounting from the University of Illinois. He has public accounting experience with Price Waterhouse & Co. (San Francisco and Chicago) and Arthur Andersen & Co. (Chicago), and research experience with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (New York).
At Northern Illinois University, Don taught accounting for more than 30 years, and in 1967, he was chosen as the first recipient of NIU’s Teaching Excellence Award. Just five years later at the age of 36, Don was appointed as the chair of NIU’ s Department of Accountancy. Don continued to be recognized as an outstanding educator and was awarded the Golden Apple Teaching Award four times. Through the efforts of some of Don’ s former students, a professorship was created especially for him, because he was held in such high regard. This professorship, the Peat Marwick Professor of Accounting, was the very first professorship to be established at NIU. Don is the author of numerous accounting and business books. He is a member of the American Accounting Association; the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; and the Illinois CPA Society. Don has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois CPA Society; the AACSB’ s Accounting Accreditation Committees; the State of Illinois Comptroller’s Commission, as Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy; and as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Accounting Association. In addition, Don has served as chairman of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of Aurora University, and the Board of Directors of Kishwaukee Community Hospital, Valley West Community Hospital, the Illinois Hospital Association, and Castle Bank. Don was also a charter member of the national Accounting Education Change Commission.
Don has been recognized with many awards including the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the Illinois CPA Society; the Federation of Schools of Accountancy’s Joseph A. Silvoso Award of Merit; the NIU Foundation’s Humanitarian Award for Service to Higher Education; a Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois CPA Society; the NIU Foundation’s Philanthropist of the Year Award, and NIU’s F.R. Geigle Service Award. In 2003, Don was presented with an honorary doctorate from Aurora University. For over twenty years Donna worked as a professional proofreader and helped compose and coordinate all seven of the ancillary books that are associated with each of Don’ s textbooks: the solution manual, instructor manual, student study guide, and exam book to name just a few. Donna enjoys quilting and is president of Fair City Quilters. She enjoys architecture having been a professional docent at Mies Van DeRoe’ s Farnsworth House in Plano and the Ellwood House Museum in DeKalb, besides designing their lakeside home. Donna served as President of Ellwood House Association, was on the City of DeKalb’ s Human Relations Commission, the LongRange Planning Committee of Lake Holiday Property Owners Association, and is the recipient of a Certificate of Appreciation from Safe Passage (domestic passage). Don and Donna’s passion for education has been passed on to their two children. Their son, Douglas, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy at NIU. Doug was a member of Northern’s men’s gymnastics team and was recognized as an NCAA Champion in 1983 and an All-American in 1984. He was inducted into the NIU Hall of Fame in 1989. Doug is a CPA, a lawyer, and earned his doctorate in criminology. He teaches at Aurora University. Their daughter, Debra Sondgeroth, received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University and supervised the student teacher program at ISU. She now works as a high school guidance counselor at Bloomington West in Bloomington-Normal, IL. Don and Donna created this scholarship as a way to give back to NIU, to recognize the outstanding accountancy faculty, and to support the outstanding performance of former Department of Accountancy Chair, James Young, and College of Business Dean, Denise Schoenbachler.