Bernard Ndoping Angandje
Las Vegas, N.M. — Outstanding New Mexico Highlands University MBA graduate Bernard Ndoping Angandje was a commencement speaker in May for the University of Texas McCombs School of Business in Austin.
Angandje received the 2013 Master of Public Accounting Student Leadership Award from UT this spring semester along with his MPA degree. The UT McCombs School of Business is one of the top business schools in the country.
Angandje earned his MBA from Highlands in 2009 with a concentration in accounting. From 2009 — 2012, he worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Austin, first as an accountant and then as a budget analyst.
This fall, Angandje begins a position in Houston as an auditor for Deloitte-Touche, one of the Big Four accounting firms.
“I have been truly blessed this year, but none of this would have happened if I didn’t get the education, opportunities and vote of confidence from my business professors at Highlands,” Angandje said. “When I came to Highlands, I was lucky enough to take my first accounting class with Dr. Jim Peters. It was very rigorous and challenging — one of a multitude of business courses I took at Highlands that prepared me to succeed in the MPA program at the University of Texas.”
The 29-year-old is from Yaoundé, the capitol city of Cameroon in West Central Africa. At Highlands, Angandje was a graduate assistant in Bill Taylor’s principals of microeconomics course.
“Bernard demonstrated he was an exceptional, serious and hard-working student from his first days at Highlands,” Taylor said. “He’s going to be a leader wherever he goes, and will excel in senior positions.
“Bernard was a dedicated graduate assistant who reached out to the students, and was very good at helping them understand difficult economic concepts. He’s the kind of person who extends himself to help others,” Taylor said.
“The opportunity to be a graduate assistant with Dr. Taylor was a valuable learning experience that helped me with my future academic endeavors. Working with students and helping them learn the concepts also helped me assimilate and become more culturally aware,” Angandje said.
While at Highlands, Angandje held several leadership positions, including serving as a member of the graduate student senate, and as president of both the international club and the men’s soccer club.
“These leadership experiences at Highlands were very important because they allowed me to interact with administrators and the campus community. It was wonderful being an international student at Highlands,” Angandje said.
Angandje continues to pursue his education. This summer, he is studying international accounting policies and business practices at the University of Hong Kong.
“Someday I’d like to take the professional accounting experience I gain back to my continent and country to help both move forward. I want to make a positive impact in that part of the world,” Angandje said.