William F. Messier,D.B.A., has been named 2009 Outstanding Auditing Educator by the American Accounting Associations Auditing Section. Dr. Messier, who holds the Kenneth and Tracy Knauss Endowed Chair in Accounting, was given the award to recognize his exemplary contributions of research or teaching over more than a decade, as evidenced by publications, educational innovations, guidance to graduate and undergraduate students and excellence in teaching.

In addition to the endowed chair at UNLV, Dr. Messier holds the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Professor II at the Department of Accounting, Auditing and Law at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and has held a visiting appointment at SDA Bocconi in Italy. He received his doctorate from Indiana University in 1979 and began as an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Before coming to UNLV, Professor Messier was a faculty member at Georgia State University.

Dr. Messier is a past editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. He also served as President of the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association and as the academic member to the Auditing Standards Board. He was also the winner of the 2008 Distinguished Service Award.