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Ernst & Young LLP Kicks Off 2009 with Commitment to Inclusion Through Three-Day Event for Minority Students and a New Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable for Business School Faculty

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Approximately 100 students from more than 50 top universities will convene inNew York City from January 7-9 to attend the third annual Ernst & Young "Discover Tax" event. Discover Tax is designed to expose minority students to the advantages of pursuing a career in Tax. The three-day event is packed with informative panels, networking events, and opportunities to speak one-on-one with firm leaders. Seventy-five percent of students who attended last year's event received job offers from Ernst & Young, with a 95% acceptance rate.

"Through Discover Tax, we want to break some of the stereotypes associated with 'boring' accounting and tax services by letting these highly talented minority students have a chance to hear directly from our people about what a career in Tax is really like," noted Chris Yamamoto, Ernst & Young's Americas Tax People Leader.

In addition to the Discover Tax event, for the first time, Ernst & Young will simultaneously host a Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable with business school faculty and administrators to discuss and share best practices regarding diversity issues facing today's business schools.

In advance of the roundtable, Ernst & Young surveyed more than two dozen business school faculty participants. Highlights of the results include:

    --  Diversity and inclusiveness is important to all constituents within a
        University community.  Survey participants understood it to be very or
        critically important to Employers (75%), University Administrators (70%)
        and Business School Administrators (65%)
    --  Attracting diverse faculty was viewed as one of the greatest challenges
        in creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive environment; 60% of
        survey respondents reported that attracting diverse faculty was very or
        extremely challenging.  47% reported tenure for diverse faculty was very
        or extremely challenging
    --  Approximately 40% felt that attracting and matriculating diverse
        students to the business school was very or extremely challenging

A cross section of 24 faculty members -- from accounting department chairs to diversity administrators -- will be attending the roundtable, which will include discussions on topics such as institutional commitment and accountability to diversity and inclusion, student recruitment and development, and best practices in faculty recruitment and development. Attending faculty members are from many of Ernst & Young's key recruiting schools (a full list of attendees is included below).

During the events this week, Ernst & Young will introduce students and faculty to the firm's new Americas Director of Inclusiveness Recruiting, Ken Bouyer. Mr. Bouyer succeeds Allen Boston, an EY partner who led diversity recruiting efforts before retiring in 2008.

"Inclusiveness is a global priority for Ernst & Young and a business imperative for our success. Given today's tough economic climate, we believe our culture of diversity and inclusion is an important competitive advantage and these types of events are more important than ever," noted Bouyer. "By bringing together faculty from top schools across the U.S. andCanada, we are able to both facilitate important dialogue and keep our finger on the pulse of diversity and inclusiveness efforts at our key pipeline schools."

Faculty representatives from the following schools will be attending the Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable:

Boston College, California State University-Northridge, Cornell University, DePaul University, Fordham University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Pace University, Penn State University, SUNY-Binghamton, Syracuse University, University of Alabama, University of Georgia, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest University, and York University.

About Ernst & Young

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Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited located in the U.S.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.

SOURCE Ernst & Young LLP