Susan Thibodeaux ’85 has a deep and ever-growing connection with The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and its students. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business and has been able to spend time mentoring current students studying accounting in the college. She shared that these hardworking scholars were the inspiration that drove her to create The Susan Blackford Thibodeaux Endowed Scholarship to support accounting majors.

“It’s amazing to get to see these young students and how energized and excited they are to be in school. They are all amazingly hard workers. Most of them have jobs in addition to their schoolwork and they are very involved in activities. It is inspiring to see their drive and their desire. And, all some of them need is an opportunity to progress,” said Susan. 

During Susan’s time as student at UTSA she enjoyed participating in the accounting honors association, Beta Alpha Psi, and worked a full-time job off campus. During her senior year, all of the large accounting firms visited UTSA for the recruitment of future employees. After interviewing,  Susan accepted  a full-time position in San Antonio following her graduation. Forever grateful to UTSA for jumpstarting her career, Susan joined the Alumni Association and began regularly giving back to the university.

“It is through UTSA that I had the opportunity to get a full-time job. For that I owe a great debt of gratitude back to the school for the help that they gave me. UTSA opened doors that I would have had to beat down myself,” said Susan.

Susan resides in Houston, Texas where she has worked for the accounting firm Ernst & Young for the past 24 years. She spends the majority of her free time with her kids, four-year-old granddaughter, niece and her daughters and dogs. She looks forward to watching UTSA continue to grow in size and stature, and become a major draw for college students across the nation.