Dr. Kevin Ennis

The MSU accounting family bids farewell to two faculty stalwarts at the end of this semester. Dr. Kevin Ennis and Dr. Joseph Faello of the MSU-Meridian Division of Business are retiring.

After 28 years on the Meridian faculty, Kevin Ennis now teaches the children of some of his previous students. In that time, he has taught nine different undergraduate and twelve different graduate courses. His students are largely non-traditional – often they have full-time jobs and families and are seeking further education that can lead to higher salaries, promotions or different careers.

“I really enjoy teaching,” he shares. “In 28 years, I never woke up dreading going to work. The highlight has been watching and helping people change their lives. I’m a great believer that everyone is smart enough if they work hard.”

Before joining the MSU faculty, Ennis worked in hospital accounting, was a civilian employee with the U.S. Navy and was Director of Internal Audit for a nonprofit incubator to build MSU research-based businesses. He is a CPA, a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Management Accountant. All that experience has enriched his classes in auditing, corporate tax, individual tax, cost accounting and governmental accounting, among others.

He is appreciative of the environment at MSU-Meridian – one where he found a valued mentor, colleagues who support and like one another and students with a deep commitment to learning.

Dr. Joseph Faello

Joseph Faello likewise brought years of corporate accounting and financial experience into the classroom. A New Yorker who grew up in Canada, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Queen’s University in Ontario and an MBA at Niagara University in New York. When he became interested in changing to a teaching career, he looked southward. A trip to Nashville with his mom, a country music fan, became an opportunity to look at PhD programs, and he chose Mississippi State.

“It was geared to people like me, who had worked in public accounting or industry,” he notes, comparing the program to those that are focused on students just completing undergraduate and graduate school.

As a PhD student, he taught in Starkville and then at Mississippi University for Women, eventually moving to Ontario’s Lakehead University while completing his dissertation. Soon, tired of the cold weather, he took a position at Alabama A&M then returned to MSU in 2014, joining the Meridian faculty. Faello has taught a variety of courses but most enjoys Intermediate Accounting I and II and Advanced Financial Accounting. One highlight came when he served as advisor to Michael Costa, the only business student to present at the spring 2017 MSU Undergraduate Research Symposium; Faello subsequently presented Costa’s findings to the American Accounting Association and the Canadian Academic Accounting Association, and their work resulted in a rarity – a collaboration between an undergraduate student and a faculty member being published in a peer-reviewed journal. Another high point has been connecting with peers, both those on the close-knit Meridian faculty and fellow academics encountered at conferences across the United States and Canada.

Joseph Faello and Kevin Ennis have made an impact on the lives of many, and it is with deep gratitude that we wish them well in their retirement.