Chances are, if you were a business or accounting major at the College of Professional Studies—or its predecessors—in the past half-century, you took a class or two with Herb Itzkowitz. He’s been teaching accounting at the College for 43 years.

Accounting instructor, Herb Itzkowitz, has taught at Northeastern for 43 years. Photo by Rick Friedman.

Itzkowitz is a true Husky, having earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from Northeastern University.

“I’m the oldest of seven kids,” he explains. “I would never have gone to college if it hadn’t been for Northeastern and its co-op program. Through the program, I had the same job for 10 years—from high school through earning my MBA. My employer was Radio Shack, a family-owned business at that time.”

Itzkowitz was offered a fellowship by Northeastern to teach accounting while earning his MBA, which he did for two years. During that time, he discovered a love of teaching. But pursuing the call to teach would be deferred for a time while he served a six-month military obligation, after which he began his career as a certified public accountant (CPA).

In a chance encounter with a former professor then chairing the Accounting Department, Itzkowitz was asked about coming back to teaching. With that nudge, Itzkowitz applied and was hired to teach Advanced Accounting. Since then, he has taught a wide range of accounting courses at the College, from intermediate to managerial to federal income tax accounting. Most recently, he taught a course in financial reporting and analysis, which concluded this past June.

While teaching, Itzkowitz became aware that many students struggle to pay tuition. He recognized the importance of the College’s scholarship programs and saw a tremendous opportunity to give something back to the school. He and his wife, Judith, who graduated from the College in 2009, established a scholarship to be awarded each year to an accounting student at the College of Professional Studies.

Itzkowitz has been a practicing accountant throughout his 43 years as a Northeastern faculty member.

It’s this hands-on experience that Itzkowitz has been able to bring to the classroom over the years. “Particularly when I teach the tax course, I tell war stories about the IRS—things that could happen. The students like hearing those stories.”In 1974, he became a partner in the CPA firm, Forman, Itzkowitz, Berenson & La Greca (FIBL) (www.fibl.com) of Waltham, Massachusetts. Retired from the day-to-day operations of the firm, he continues to serve a number of FIBL’s clients. “I work with some clients who have been with me for more than 40 years,” he explains. “I enjoy being hands-on.”

Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies (CPS) is committed to providing career-focused educational programs that are designed to accommodate the complex lives of motivated learners. Offered in a variety of innovative formats, CPS courses are taught by accomplished scholars and practitioners who have real-world experience. The result is an educational experience founded on proven scholarship, strengthened with practical application, and sustained by academic excellence.

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a comprehensive, global research university. The university offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and more than 165 graduate programs, ranging from professional master’s degrees to interdisciplinary PhD programs. Northeastern’s research enterprise is aligned with three national imperatives: health, security and sustainability. Northeastern students participate in co-op and other forms of experiential learning in 90 countries on all seven continents