Lillian Mills, dean of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, has received the 2023 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the American Accounting Association. Sponsored by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Foundation, the accolade includes a monetary prize, a citation, and a unique glass art piece to be presented in August at the association’s annual meeting in Denver.
“I extend my heartfelt thanks to the peers and former students who nominated me,” Professor Mills said. “We accounting scholars prepare students for roles that are front and center in some of the most critical and fundamental decisions businesses face. Continuing the tradition of cutting-edge knowledge creation and knowledge-sharing alongside my esteemed peers has been a constant source of joy and inspiration for me.”
Dr. Mills chaired the accounting department for four years before becoming the first woman to be named permanent dean of McCombs in 2021. Prior to joining McCombs in 2006, she worked on tax reform at the U.S. Treasury Department as the Stanley Surrey senior research fellow in the Office of Tax Analysis. She consulted for the Internal Revenue Service for 20 years. Dr. Mills served on the faculty of the University of Arizona from 1997 to 2005.
Professor Mills holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Florida. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.