Long commutes, business travel, family obligations and even the annual April 15 tax deadline aren’t preventing RSM McGladrey employees across the country from participating in DePaul University classes.

That’s because the national accounting firm and the Chicago university have formed a special partnership that allows employees to earn a master of science in taxation degree (MST) from DePaul without ever stepping onto its campus. Instead, faculty members from the university’s highly regarded School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems come to the firm’s downtown Chicago office to teach one or two MST classes a week in a specially equipped distance learning classroom. The university distance learning degree program within the firm is believed to be one-of-a-kind nationally.

About two-thirds of the 45 RSM McGladrey students currently enrolled in the program are Chicago employees who attend courses in person. The remaining students are professionals who work in the firm’s offices in San Diego, Cleveland, Columbus and a half -dozen other locations. They participate in real time through a Web camera linked to RSM McGladrey’s in-house Internet video conferencing system. The system allows students to join the class from their offices, homes or anywhere else they have computer access and an Internet connection.

For RSM McGladrey’s employees, the program overcomes obstacles that can prevent working professionals from earning graduate degrees necessary for career advancement. For RSM McGladrey and DePaul, the partnership has proven to be an effective recruiting tool for attracting employees to the firm and students to the university.

“Our tax practice requires highly educated tax professionals who can address complex, sophisticated tax issues,” said Diane Kuhlmann, RSM McGladrey’s director of learning and professional development. “A master in taxation degree provides this deep, technical tax expertise. By partnering with DePaul to provide an in-house program using distance-learning technology, we are able to bring a high-quality MST degree to our professionals regardless of their locations. In addition, we can support work/life balance by allowing our tax professionals to avoid travel and participate in the program from either home or office. This is a huge recruiting boon for RSM McGladrey. I’m not aware of other firms that have this type of MST partnership.”

A unit of H&R Block, RSM McGladrey has nearly 100 offices in 22 states. Kuhlmann said the distance-learning program benefits employees in large cities, where juggling a busy work schedule and commuting across town to an on-campus program can be daunting, as well as employees in smaller towns, where no local university offers an MST degree program. Employees with children also can participate more easily because they can access the program’s evening classes from home.

Michael Johnson, a senior associate in RSM McGladrey’s Chicago office who lives 45 minutes away in suburban Schaumburg, said he enjoys the flexibility of attending classes in person or through the Internet when he is at home or visiting a client. He also appreciates that courses are scheduled around RSM McGladrey’s workload (no classes are scheduled the two weeks before the April 15 tax deadline) and students can suggest course content that applies to their work. “I need an MST to progress in my career and the convenience of this program is a big selling point,” Johnson said.

Convenience also attracted a classmate 2,000 miles away – Mary Bren Capistrano – to the program. Capistrano, who works in RSM McGladrey’s San Diego office, said she especially likes that all lessons are recorded and available via video streaming. “If you didn’t understand something, you can play it back later,” she said. Discussing class projects via e-mail also has allowed her to get to know McGladrey employees in other parts of the country whom she may not have met otherwise.

This is the second year DePaul has offered the three-year, 12-course MST degree at RSM McGladrey, according to program director Ronald Marcuson, a retired Ernst & Young partner who also teaches the program’s Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders course.

“RSM McGladrey was interested in partnering with us because DePaul’s MST program is viewed as one of a kind,” he said. “A lot of other schools have academics teaching these courses, but DePaul has tax practitioners who are teaching the things they do every day. Because we are located in Chicago and DePaul’s School of Accountancy is so well respected, we can hire top tax people to provide students a very practical education.”

Marcuson said a third group of McGladrey professionals will begin the program in the fall, increasing its enrollment to about 70. Meanwhile, the first cohort of 20 employee-students will complete their studies and graduate in the fall of 2008.

Kevin Stevens, director of DePaul’s School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems, said the successful program provides a model for future partnerships.

“CPA firm jobs are very demanding and going back to school is a big commitment,” he said. “This program offers flexibility and company support that allow students to more easily combine work and school. While it’s not unheard of for business schools to offer tailored MBA programs at corporations, this kind of university-accountancy firm partnership is new and I think will become the wave of the future.”

Click to access photos of the RSM McGladrey MST program:

Photo 1: Program director Ron Marcuson shows the distance learning equipment used for classes in DePaul’s master in taxation degree program taught at RSM McGladrey’s Chicago offices.

Photo 2: Marcuson discusses a tax accounting concept during a class for RSM McGladrey employees, who attended in person or through cyberspace.

Photo 3: A RSM McGladrey employee reviews a lesson during class.