Michael J. Byrne to receive Honorary Doctor of Letters from Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ at May 5 commencement
April 27, 2012
Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ will award an honorary Doctor of Letters to Michael J. Byrne, past president of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Foundation Board of Directors and current chair of the Board, at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Commencement May 5.
Byrne grew up in Rigby and earned both his accounting and MBA degrees at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ. Mike and his family have a long and storied legacy with Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ as two of his three brothers and his only sister all graduated from Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ.
He is retired as a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was a lead accountant over multinational corporations such as Nike, Inc., Chevron, Phelps Dodge, Avery Dennison, Edison International and many others. While serving PricewaterhouseCoopers he worked in locations such as Portland, Ore., Phoenix, Los Angeles, Orange County, Calif., San Diego and Salt Lake City. He currently resides in Rigby and Puerto Penasco, Mexico.
Byrne stays active in professional organizations and enjoys sports, opera, service to the Catholic Church, and volunteer efforts for Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ. Faculty, staff and students at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ have appreciated Byrne's continuing interest in his alma mater. He has generously funded scholarships at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and makes significant gifts to the L. E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center.
He received the 1990 College of Business Professional Achievement Award and was honored with the first President's Medallion in 2001. In 2007 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and Southeast Idaho will always be my home, no matter where in the world I live," he says.
Byrne has honored his parents with the Clarence and Velma Byrne Scholarship Endowment for accounting students; he was one of the catalysts for the Colonel David V. S. Kirkpatrick Scholarship Endowment, and the "Thanks a Million Babe" campaign. He generously supports the L. E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Women's Volleyball, Jack and Deltha Dunker Scholarship Endowment, Joe and Pauline Kent Scholarship Endowment, has endowed scholarships to honor professors Ken Smith and Sheel Pawar and provides generous support to the Alumni Center Endowment.
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