Curtis DeBerg

Dr. Curtis L. DeBerg earned his Ph.D. and M.S. at Oklahoma State University in business administration (emphasis: financial accounting) and economics, respectively. Before that, he was employed as a CPA for the national accounting firm of Ernst & Whinney in Des Moines, Iowa. From September 1993 to May 2005, he was the Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow at Chico State. One of the SIFE team’s most outstanding projects was called “Cal-High SIFE.” Based on the success of Cal-High SIFE, Dr. DeBerg founded Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) in summer 2002. SAGE Global is a global community of teenage entrepreneurs sharing a common purpose: to make the world a better place. SAGE’s mission is create the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders whose innovations and social enterprises address some of the world’s most urgent problems. Youth use their school learning to become self-reliant, create wealth, and help others. SAGE is currently operating in eight U.S. states and 22 countries.
Dr. DeBerg has published several articles in many academic refereed journals, and served three years as Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting Education. From 1995-1997, he served as Project Co-director of a U.S. Department of Education grant entitled “Reengineering Elementary Accounting.” Dr. DeBerg was a leader in reengineering principles of accounting during this time period when CSU, Chico made significant changes in both content and pedagogy in principles of accounting.
In 2016, Dr. DeBerg was the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for a three-year SUSI federal grant for $720,000. It is entitled “Going Lean: Applying Modern Approaches to Social Enterprise Development in Africa.” This grant is a five- to six-week academic program for West African undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25 designed to improve their understanding of the United States and to develop their leadership skills. A total of 60 SUSI Student Leaders from six countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, and South Sudan) participated. The theme of this particular program is Social Entrepreneurship. Among the main objectives: to provide the SUSI participants with an overview of how entrepreneurial skills can address social issues, and to help them design business plans that address major social issues in their home countries. Also, in 2016, he won the College of Business’s first annual Extraordinary Achievement Award, which included a $10,000.