Michael J. Byrne to receive Honorary Doctor of Letters from ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï at May 5 commencement
April 27, 2012
ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï will award an honorary Doctor of Letters to Michael J. Byrne, past president of the ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï Foundation Board of Directors and current chair of the Board, at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï Commencement May 5.
Byrne grew up in Rigby and earned both his accounting and MBA degrees at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï. Mike and his family have a long and storied legacy with ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï as two of his three brothers and his only sister all graduated from ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï.
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 ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï. Faculty, staff and students at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï have appreciated Byrne's continuing interest in his alma mater. He has generously funded scholarships at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï 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.
"ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï 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, ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï 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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