Funding the future: PhD earns Deloitte Foundation Fellowship

The award will support Austin Blake (PhD Accountancy '26) while he completes his dissertation and other responsibilities throughout the next two years.

W. P. Carey PhD candidate Austin Blake (PhD Accountancy '26) has been recognized as one of this year's Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellows, earning a $25,000 fellowship to support his research and teaching.

The Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship is an award for accounting PhD candidates, recognizing future educators and researchers who can help shape the profession. Each year, only 10 recipients nationwide are selected for this fellowship, which supports them in their final year of coursework and dissertation research. Blake’s selection highlights both his academic excellence and his potential to contribute to the future of accounting education.

"Austin is the first ASU student to receive this fellowship. This is a great honor and recognition for him and his advisors in our PhD program," says Phillip Lamoreaux, director of accountancy and the W. P. Carey Accountancy Professional Advisory Board.

Blake's advisor, Associate Professor of Accountancy Jenny Brown, says awards like the Deloitte Foundation Fellowship are essential for enhancing PhD students' studies and their future contributions to academia by providing them with the financial support and flexibility to focus on their dissertations and engage deeply with their research.

"This support is particularly important in business studies, where many PhD candidates have left established professional careers to pursue academia. The opportunity costs to this career shift can be significant, and fellowships help to mitigate these financial risks, making the pursuit of advanced academic goals more accessible and sustainable," says Brown. "With their professional experience, these scholars bring valuable real-world insights to their research and future teaching roles, enriching the academic community and business education."

The Deloitte Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing innovation and excellence in education, created the Doctoral Fellowship program nearly 70 years ago to support the development of future accounting faculty. The program has since funded nearly 1,200 PhD students, helping them complete their research and transition into academic careers.

"The fellowship means a tremendous amount to me," says Blake. "It is a substantial financial help and an honor to be among those selected to receive the fellowship in 2025."

The fellowship will help Blake delve deeper into his dissertation, which focuses on the impact of the 150-credit-hour rule to be licensed as a certified public accountant (CPA) on different types of consumers of CPA talent; continuing research on the economic and reporting implications of federal tax policy, state and local taxation, regulatory agencies, and financial regulations; and teaching responsibilities before graduating next spring.

"The application process for this fellowship was all-encompassing, and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family, faculty, and other W. P. Carey PhD students," says Blake.

Accounting doctoral students from over 100 universities are invited to apply for the fellowship each year, and recipients are chosen by a committee composed of eminent accounting educators.

"The Foundation helps today's students be ready for the jobs of tomorrow, and faculty play an important role in developing a workforce that is prepared for career success," said Erin Scanlon, Deloitte Foundation president. "Supporting the selected PhD candidates in this critical phase of their academic studies is one way the Foundation can help strengthen the pipeline of accounting professors who will go on to teach thousands of students throughout their careers."

Blake says programs like the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship program are vital to supporting tomorrow's educators, researchers, and leaders of the next generation of accountants.

"I pursued a PhD at W. P. Carey because of advice I received from multiple professors during my pre-PhD studies," says Blake. "If this program makes it easier for today’s PhD students to become faculty and have similar impacts across hundreds or even thousands of students throughout their careers, then the accounting profession can be better off because of it."

Blake’s recognition highlights W. P. Carey’s commitment to preparing the next generation of accounting educators, helping to ensure students benefit from top-tier faculty for years to come.

Learn how W. P. Carey is preparing the next generation of accounting educators and researchers.