RENO — Danielle Farris, a University of Nevada, Reno College of Business accounting student, is the first Nevada student to be awarded the prestigious title of William G. McGowan Scholar. This is the first year that the UNR College of Business has been designated as a McGowan Scholar Institution. The college is one of only 82 institutions in the country to receive the designation this year.

Named in recognition of William G. McGowan, a pioneer in the telecommunications industry, as well as founder and longtime chair of MCI Communications Corp., the McGowan Scholars program provides a small group of select colleges and universities with scholarships to assist their top students pursuing a business education. The program recognizes leadership and academic excellence of students nationwide and will provide Farris a full-tuition scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Farris, a senior entering Nevada’s masters of accountancy program in the fall, is the president of the Beta Alpha Psi accounting fraternity and serves on the college’s Accounting Advisory Board. She has volunteered her time to help low-income residents file tax returns and has been involved in Greek life at the university. Farris’ goal is to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In order to take the CPA exam, she needs 150 college credits, so she set her sights on graduate school.

“The funding issue was going to be a struggle, so I was hoping something would come up,” said Farris, a native of Las Vegas. “I was going to be left paying for graduate school myself and this will now pay for the entire year.”

After graduate school, Farris hopes to work her way to the top of a large accounting firm and stay in Reno.