Kelly Richmond Pope Named Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor

Accounting Professor Kelly Richmond Pope has been appointed to a new endowed professorship in the School of Accountancy & MIS, effective July 1. The Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Professorship in Forensic Accounting comes after DePaul alumnus and long-time donor Epstein donated more than $500,000 to convert the current fellowship in his name to a professorship.

“Dr. Epstein has been a major supporter of the school for decades, having made major contributions to scholarships and faculty development funds before this major gift for faculty support,” says Ray Whittington, director of the School of Accountancy & MIS.

“Kelly is uniquely qualified for this position,” he continues. “She is a nationally recognized expert in the area of forensics and accounting fraud and is well deserving of this honor.”

Pope is an active leader and researcher in the accounting profession who was named one of the “most powerful women in accounting” in 2020 by the American Institute of CPAs and CPA Practice Advisor. She is also a talented filmmaker known for her award-winning fraud documentaries, “Crossing the Line: Ordinary People Committing Extraordinary Crime” and “All the Queen's Horses,” released in 2012 and 2017 respectively.

As for teaching, Pope is passionate about pushing the envelope on teaching innovations to engage students in digital learning experiences that go beyond the traditional textbook. This passion led her to create Red Flag Mania in 2020 – an e-learning tool that provides an immersive game-based experience for students to learn about and detect fraud.

Pope’s current projects include co-authoring a digital textbook with Pearson Learning called “Managerial Accounting, 1st Edition.” She also has an upcoming book, “Fool Me Once: Stories and Lessons from Inside the Billion-Dollar Fraud Industry” (Harvard Business Press), which is set for release in 2023.

“It is such an honor to receive this professorship for several reasons,” Pope says. “First, Dr. Epstein is a leader in forensic accounting, so it’s truly an honor to be able to continue innovation research and teaching in the field of forensic accounting affiliated with legacy.

“Secondly, I can’t stop to think about the conversation I would have with the late Dr. Sandra Shelton regarding this professorship. I know that she would be so excited for me and I wish she was here to share this news. Knowing that there are so few African American female Ph.D.’s in accounting and even fewer with endowed professorships makes this recognition even more special,” she says.