First off, did you see the feature in the Early Bird about the new Risk Assurance and Advisory Center?
“In a world where risk is constant and complexity is the norm, Metropolitan State University of Denver is redefining how tomorrow’s business leaders are trained. The secret? A specialization in internal audit”
Those first few lines truly say it all. At MSU Denver, we have been training our students in a subject (referred to here as “Risk Assurance and Advisory”) that not many Universities even offer, and we have been doing it in unique and exciting ways!
Outside of the announcement of the formal Risk Assurance and Advisory Center in March, there were recently two other unique opportunities provided to students through our internal audit program. 
In April, three students attended The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Global Student Conference in Orlando, FL. This unique experience allowed them to meet other audit, accounting, and business students from countries across the globe, while learning more about governance, risks, controls, and what it means to be a great internal auditor in today’s world of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. They even got to meet the President and CEO of The IIA, pictured here!
Next, in May, two graduate students performed a critical review for MSU Denver, all about the Alternate Work Arrangements policy and accompanying guidelines provided to professional staff of the University. If you didn’t know, MSU Denver doesn’t have a traditional internal audit department, so these graduate students perform reviews of various departments and processes each semester. This is an amazing, hands-on opportunity and responsibility for our Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcc) and Master of Business Administration students! Experiential learning is an important aspect of our MPAcc program and this ACCM 5901 Risk Assurance & Advisory Engagements course is 1 option to fulfill the degree’s experiential learning elective requirement.
For information related to the new Risk Assurance and Advisory Center and its course and certificate offerings, information on attending The IIA’s Global Student Conference next April (2026), or information on enrolling in the experiential learning course and performing a unique and valuable audit for MSU Denver, please reach out to me anytime (Jo Erven, Director of Internal Audit Education – [email protected]). Look forward to connecting with each of you and sharing more about our University’s Risk Assurance and Advisory program!
