Dr. Susan Eldridge Receives Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the Nebraska Society of CPAs

In recognition of her outstanding ability to educate and prepare students to become career-ready, and for her aptitude to implement positive change and build relationships among students, faculty, staff, administrators, employers, and community partners, the Nebraska Society of CPAs is honored to recognize Dr. Susan W. Eldridge as the 2023 recipient of the Society’s Outstanding Accounting Educator Award.

Dr. Eldridge is a results-oriented leader, innovator, and avid learner with a proven track record in strategic planning and management. In July 2021, she was named the associate dean for Faculty, Research, and Planning in the College of Business Administration (CBA) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Prior to that, Dr. Eldridge served as director of UNO’s School of Accounting.

Born and raised in Lumberton, N.C., Dr. Eldridge earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, specializing in accounting, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 1983. That same year, she passed the CPA exam on her first attempt—that was when you took the exam with paper and pencil over two and a half days.

She went to work in Raleigh, N.C., for KPMG (formerly Peat Marwick Mitchell), then one of the “Big 8” CPA firms, where she started out as an auditor.

After holding positions in public accounting and as a controller in the construction industry, Dr. Eldridge earned her master’s degree in accounting in 1992 at Appalachian State University, and her Ph.D. in 1997 at UNC-Chapel Hill. She also served as a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2002 joined the faculty at UNO’s CBA.

Since coming to Omaha, Neb., Dr. Eldridge has worked hard and earned the respect of her peers and her students, receiving numerous honors, including the Graduate Accounting Professor of the Year Award, Dean’s Citation for Outstanding Service, Dean’s Citation for Extraordinary Performance, Lady Vestey Woman of Achievement Award from the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance, and the Woman Leader in Nebraska Education Award from the Platte Valley Institute of Management Accountants.

She remains a licensed CPA and an active member of the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Financial Executives International, the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance, and the Nebraska Society of CPAs.

Dr. Eldridge and her husband Mark, who passed away in August 2022 and was also a CPA, have three adult children: daughter Jennifer, son James (Allee), and son Mitchell (Erin).