About our authors
Karen Wilken Braun is a professor for the Department of Accountancy in Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Braun is also the Beta Alpha Psi adviser and the director of the undergraduate accounting program. Professor Braun was on the faculty of the J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the University of Georgia before her appointment at Case Western. She has received several student-nominated Outstanding Teacher of the Year awards at both business schools, and is regularly asked to speak to student clubs and organizations about personal financial planning.
Braun is a Certified Public Accountant and holds membership in the American Accounting Association (AAA), the Institute of Management Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She also holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation, and is a member of the AAA's Management Accounting Section as well as the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section. Braun has regularly held leadership positions with the AAA's Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting (CTLA) including co-chairing the 2015 and 2016 conferences. She was awarded the 2016 Bea Sanders/AICPA Teaching Innovation Award for her development of Excel-based active-learning resources for introductory managerial courses. Braun's research and teaching interests revolve around lean operations, sustainability, corporate responsibility, and accounting education. Braun's work has been published in Contemporary Accounting Research, Issues in Accounting Education, and Journal of Accounting Education.
Braun received her PhD from the University of Connecticut and her BA, summa cum laude, from Luther College, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Braun gained public accounting experience while working at Arthur Andersen & Co. and accumulated additional business and management accounting experience as a corporate controller.
Braun has 2 daughters who are both in college. In her free time, she enjoys biking, gardening, hiking, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.
Wendy M. Tietz is a professor for the Department of Accounting in the College of Business Administration at Kent State University. She teaches introductory financial and managerial accounting in a variety of formats, including large sections, small sections, and web-based sections. She has received numerous college and university teaching awards while at Kent State University.
Tietz is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Management Accountant, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She is a member of the American Accounting Association (AAA), the Institute of Management Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is a member of the AAA's Management Accounting Section as well as the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section. She has published in Strategic Finance, IMA Educational Case Journal, Issues in Accounting Education, Accounting Education: An International Journal, and Journal of Accounting & Public Policy. She regularly presents at AAA regional and national meetings.
Tietz authors a blog, Accounting in the Headlines, which has real-world news stories and resources for use in the introductory accounting classroom. Dr. Tietz was awarded the Bea Sanders/AICPA Teaching Innovation Award for her blog in 2014 and the Jim Bulloch/IMA Award for Innovations in Management Accounting Education in 2016. She was also awarded the Best Educational/Case Award for the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section (AAA, Ohio Region) in 2016. Tietz earned her PhD from Kent State University. She received both her MBA and BSA from the University of Akron. She worked in industry for several years, both as a controller for a financial institution and as the operations manager and controller for a recycled plastics manufacturer.
Tietz and her husband, Russ, have 2 grown sons. In her spare time, she enjoys walking, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She is also intensely interested in using technology and social media in education.
