May 31, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The El Paso Energy Foundation has given the UAB School of Business $3,000 for a new faculty achievement award in accounting. The first recipient of the award is Frank Messina, D.B.A., C.P.A., associate professor of accounting, who received the cash award and plaque at the Beta Alpha Psi accounting honor society banquet in May. Each year the award will be presented to a dedicated full-time educator with exceptional devotion to the quality of instruction, high academic standards and a remarkable dedication to students.

The El Paso Energy foundation’s purpose in establishing the award program is to: reward teacher excellence, retain quality instructors, motivate good teachers to become better, help address the problem of low faculty compensation at many institutions, and contribute to the stimulation of more effective teaching.

In addition to the new award, the El Paso Energy Foundation has also become a sponsor of Beta Alpha Psi and endowed a diversity in accounting scholarship of $1,500.

Messina teaches Principals of Accounting and Income Taxation at UAB. He received his Doctor of Business Administration and his Master of Professional Accountancy from Mississippi State University and his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of West Alabama. Messina’s teaching awards include the UAB Excellence in Classroom Teaching Award for the past four years and the 1999 President’s Excellence in Teaching Award along with being a finalist for the E.G. Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Teaching Award for four years. Outside of UAB Messina is sought after speaker and author with articles published in The Tax Advisor, Journal of Taxation, Decision Sciences and CPA Journal, to name only a few.