{"id":6534,"date":"2021-07-14T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/?p=6534"},"modified":"2021-07-13T13:39:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T18:39:58","slug":"alumni-spotlight-dustin-marshall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/2021\/07\/14\/alumni-spotlight-dustin-marshall\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Spotlight: Dustin Marshall"},"content":{"rendered":"

When <\/span>Dustin Marshall (\u201907)<\/b> graduated from ACU with an undergraduate degree in accounting and a Master in\"\" Accountancy in 2008, he wasn\u2019t sure how the work he was going to do would allow him to put his faith into practice in the workplace. Thirteen years later, the answer is clear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the tenets of the College of Business Administration is encouraging students and alumni to see all work as ministry. Marshall, now a CPA and Assurance partner at Ernst & Young LLP, can see now that the size of the firm along with the flexibility he has at the company allows him to do Kingdom work both inside and outside of the office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I really struggled with right out of college was feeling as if what I was doing for a living did not have a direct or significant impact on the world or even my community, so it was hard to feel like I was honoring God or blessing the world,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cAfter much prayer and self-reflection, it was revealed to me that God gave me the gifts he did for a reason and that there are numerous ways that I am able to honor him and bless others in my day-to-day activities at work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is important to Marshall in his day-to-day interactions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of my work is building relationships,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are multiple opportunities to connect with individuals on both a professional and personal level, and though I cannot openly discuss my faith unless directly asked, it is ever-present in every interaction that I have. One of my values is building relationships based on doing the right thing. My faith is the basis for living out that value.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall understands that his success in the business world is built on interacting with others, whether it be building professional relationships with co-workers and clients or the apprenticeship-like model that is public accounting. Not only did COBA give Marshall the foundation of knowledge to enter the business world, but his time at ACU and in the college helped shape him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOBA gave me the solid business foundation to confidently carry out those interactions and helped develop me as a person to do so with compassion, kindness and caring for those I interact within a business setting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is impossible to build up without having a firm foundation, and ACU provided that foundation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall advises current students to get plugged in at ACU and build their support system, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t be shy! There are so many opportunities at ACU to get plugged in and involved. Find your spot and allow yourself to grow. Join a fraternity\/sorority. Join other clubs on campus. Play every intramural sport possible. I was lucky enough to make friends at ACU that I have been able to rely on heavily after graduation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The friends and mentors Marshall gained at ACU have created lasting memories for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed every second spent with my fraternity,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cSing Song was a great experience \u2013 not so much Sing Song practice. The long study sessions that were spent in the COBA atrium while taking numerous breaks to talk to friends walking through. Time spent in the Quiet Place. The most specific memory I have is my last semester in the MAcc program when it was difficult to stay motivated and I felt like I couldn\u2019t wait to graduate, only to spend my very last class at ACU sitting in Dr. Perkins\u2019 class listening to him play his guitar and read <\/span>Oh, the Places You\u2019ll Go!<\/span><\/i> to us and wishing that class would never end because I did not want to leave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall gives special mention of two professors who greatly impacted him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed all of the accounting professors but I would have to give specific acknowledgment to Mr. (Bill) Fowler and Dr. (John) Neill,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cFowler was invaluable in helping us keep everything in perspective and always taking the time to discuss topics outside of accounting. Dr. Neill was a great teacher and his jokes always kept me laughing. I still talk to both of them on a fairly regular basis.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall says he \u201ccould not recommend ACU highly enough\u201d and touts the university as being the perfect size where the opportunities are boundless. ACU became the place where he grew his own faith. He encourages current students to be introspective and active in their spiritual journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing in your faith-life is <\/span>hard <\/span><\/i>after school,\u201d he said. \u201cReflecting back, I was essentially \u2018spoon fed\u2019 faith from the day I was born. I grew up in the church, and I was surrounded by like-minded individuals, which only increased when I stepped on ACU\u2019s campus. At ACU, you have daily Chapel, you pray before class and Bible studies are plentiful. It was a huge adjustment after graduation when I became a lot more responsible for my own faith walk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While the adjustment outside of the ACU campus might have been hard, Marshall is living out his faith in the workplace as a quiet ambassador for COBA alumni who \u201chonor God and bless the world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dustin Marshall (\u201907) graduated from ACU with an undergraduate degree in accounting and a Master in Accountancy in 2008, he wasn\u2019t sure how the work he was going to do would allow him to put his faith into practice in the workplace. Thirteen years later, the answer is clear.\u00a0 One of the tenets of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2090,386,2838,6633,6627,154272,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accounting","category-alumni-spotlight","category-coba-alumni","category-coba-faculty","category-faith-infusion","category-macc","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6536,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6534\/revisions\/6536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}