Megan Hess ’97 Named Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Accounting Hess, a professor of accounting, will hold the position for three years.

By Brian Laubscher
May 12, 2025

Megan Hess ’97, professor of accounting, has been appointed the fifth Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Accounting at Washington and Lee University. On July 1, she will succeed Kish Parella, professor of law, who has held the role since 2022.

The Class of 1960 Professorship of Ethics seeks to honor and recognize a W&L faculty member whose teaching and scholarship include ethics, honor, integrity, honesty and applications of ethical reasoning in addressing contemporary issues. Hess’ research explores ethical decision-making, ethical leadership, whistleblowing, financial statement fraud, professional skepticism and sustainability accounting.

“I am grateful for the honor to serve as the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Accounting and excited for the opportunity to lead the Institute for Honor programming for the next three years,” said Hess. “Even though I just found out about this role, I have already been brainstorming topics that should prove engaging for our alumni who regularly attend the Institute for Honor and for our students, faculty and staff who may not yet be familiar with this program. My research and teaching embrace interdisciplinary topics, so I hope to bring that approach to this series. There is so much to learn about ethics, leadership, honor and integrity by thinking about these topics not just from a business perspective but by exploring them from a science, technology and humanities perspective as well.”

Hess will join other faculty members who have held the prestigious professorship that was established by the Class of 1960 at its 50th reunion, including: Parella, Barton Myers, professor of history, (2019-22); Sam Calhoun, Robert O. Bentley Professor of Law Emeritus, (2016-19); and Lucas Morel, John K. Boardman Professor of Politics, (2013-16). The professorship stems from the Institute for Honor, and its responsibilities include serving on the Institute for Honor Advisory Board, taking a leading role in conceiving and organizing the Institute for Honor symposia and planning and executing several additional programs and projects in honor and ethics for the duration of the professorship.

“Kish’s final symposium as the Class of 1960 Professor focused on corporate responsibility in relation to food, housing and health care access in the Shenandoah Valley,” said provost Lena Hill. “I am deeply grateful to Kish for her intellectually vitalizing leadership. Megan has already begun shaping innovative events rooted in her scholarship and grounded in the ideals at the heart of the Institute for Honor. Her interdisciplinary teaching and broad university service will position Megan to involve undergraduates, law students, faculty and staff in Institute for Honor events, adding to the passionate alumni involvement that is a hallmark of the symposium. I am excited to support her vision.”

Hess has published numerous articles and cases on professional ethics, fraud and whistleblowing in corporate environments, and she is a frequent lecturer on those topics at various national conferences and workshops. At W&L, she teaches classes on business ethics, sustainability accounting and forensic accounting.

Hess has served the university in a variety of leadership positions, including chair of the University Sustainability Committee, the Faculty Administrators Evaluation Committee and the Science, Society and the Arts Conference, among others. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics, is a core faculty member in the environmental studies program and serves as a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees.

Before joining the W&L faculty in 2013, Hess spent three years as an adjunct professor and instructor at the University of Virginia, where she taught courses on forensic accounting, social entrepreneurship and special topics in ethics. She began her professional career in the private sector and spent 12 years in industry before moving into academia. Her research and teaching on corporate ethics have been profoundly shaped by the six years she spent as a forensic accountant at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. While there, she provided forensic accounting, corporate investigation and litigation support services to help companies respond to fraud allegations and commercial disputes.

Hess earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from W&L, an MBA from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.