Accounting Professor Retiring at the End of Spring Semester

Accounting professor Michael Dugan, Ph.D., will retire at the end of the spring semester, concluding a 40-year teaching career.

Dugan came to the Hull College of Business in 2014 as the Peter S. Knox III Distinguished Chair for the Knox School of Accountancy. Prior to that, he taught for four years at the University of Southern Mississippi, after serving 25 years at the University of Alabama.

“The two factors that contributed the most to my decision to retire are the desire to live closer to family, and the belief that 40 years of work enabled me to attain all of my career goals as an accounting educator,” he said.

“Dr. Dugan is the consummate academic professional: outstanding teacher, prolific researcher, and dedicated institutional and professional servant. While many great academic researchers often struggle in the classroom, Dr. Dugan thrived as both an instructor and a mentor,” said Hull College of Business Dean Rick Franza, Ph.D. “While Dr. Dugan is very memorable for his big heart and humorous quips, his lasting legacy will be with the students, fellow faculty, and accountants in the community whom he mentored and supported. Dr. Dugan’s contributions have been great, and their impact will continue for many years to come.”

Dugan is known academically for his development of bankruptcy prediction models based on research first published in 1989. He has published more than 60 articles in both academic and professional journals.

Dugan has won multiple awards throughout his education career, most recently by his alma mater, the University of New Orleans, with the 2020 Accounting Department Outstanding Alumnus Award. He was also the recipient of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants’ 2018 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award and the Hull College Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2019.

“My most memorable achievement was being granted tenure for the first time in my career in August 1988 at The University of Alabama. I was so proud to have attained such job security at the age of 31. Another memorable achievement was my first endowed position appointment as Ernst and Young Professor at Alabama in August 2002,” he said.

Born in Dallas and raised in New Orleans, Dugan earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of New Orleans in 1978 and was an assistant professor there from 1982 to 1984. He finished his Master of Accountancy in 1981 and his Doctor of Business Administration in 1982, both at the University of Tennessee.

“What I will miss the most about Hull is its people – faculty, staff, and students – as well as the family atmosphere,” Dugan said.