Dr. Jennifer Cainas is an associate dean and a professor of instruction in accounting, teaching at the University of South Florida for over 20 years. During her career, she has taught and mentored over 30,000 business students who have gone on to have successful careers in accounting, advertising, marketing, management, real estate, finance and information systems. She primarily teaches introductory financial and managerial accounting to incoming business students, although she has also taught intermediate financial accounting, cost accounting, accounting information systems, and issues in college teaching. Her current research focuses on the behavioral decision-making of entrepreneurs, management control systems, and active learning/teaching pedagogy. She has received numerous teaching awards at the school, college, university, and national level. In 2024, she received theAmerican Accounting Association / J.Michael and Mary Anne Cook / Deloitte Foundation Prize for undergraduate teaching. This award is the foremost recognition for teaching, given toindividuals who consistently demonstrate the attributes of a superior accounting teacher. She is the faculty advisor for Beta Alpha Psi and also received the national outstanding faculty advisor award in 2013 and 2023, sponsored by RSM. She has been asked to speak several times regarding effective teaching practices and student success at both the university and national level. Prior to teaching at USF, she was a practicing accountant, working for several Fortune 500 companies throughout her professional career, specializing in financial reporting and analysis. Dr. Cainas earned her Doctorate of Business Administration from the University of Florida and received her Bachelor of Arts in Business and Master of Accountancy degrees from the University of South Florida. She is also a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida.