As the Interim President at the University of Southern Indiana, Steve Bridges ’89 M’95 is no stranger to public speaking engagements. But there was something special about the opportunity to speak to a group of students in the same shoes he once was as a business student.
He can remember the important decisions he had to make as a college student. Bridges recalls that from the ages of 18 to 23, he made some of the most important decisions of his life—from getting married to deciding what career path he should take. Bridges presented Two Chapters for Life in the Romain College of Business on January 30 in front of a full house of students, faculty and administrators as part of the Lessons Beyond the Classroom Speaker Series. He’s hopeful the message from his presentation can bring some relief to students who may be feeling similar stress to what he once had.
The presentation was sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi’s Lambda Mu chapter and the Accounting and Professional Services Club, an Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) student chapter.
“Truly it’s about me providing some information to those students who are sitting in the seats that I once sat in and hopefully providing them some comfort about where they are and the upcoming decisions they need to make,” Bridges said. “I’m hopeful that my journey can help them down the road.”
The title of his presentation came from an advanced accounting class he took as a student. In the class, he was struck by two specific chapters of the textbook that talked about fund accounting. These two chapters helped him consider a career path which he may not have considered before.
“I was like any student in accounting,” Bridges said. “I remember thinking ‘Do I want to go into public accounting? Or manufacturing accounting?’. But fund accounting spoke to me. It really resonated with me, and it steered me to look for something in the not-for-profit world.”
In his presentation, Bridges talked about life as a student pursuing both a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration. He spent much of the discussion talking about his journey into fund accounting, how he ended up working in higher education and all the differences between public accounting and non-profit accounting.
As the University’s longtime Vice President for Finance and Administration as well as Chief Business, Fiscal Officer and many other roles across his tenure, Bridges discussed how many different types of accounting—such as investment, retail and rental property—all play a part into being an accountant in higher education. He explained to students, if you want to be involved with different types of accounting, then higher education could be a possible career path.
“We do all sorts of accounting here,” Bridges said. “When it comes to the University itself, there’s a lot of complexities and different accounting opportunities that happen.”
He also went on to discuss how his current role as Interim President is what he referred to as Chapter Three. Chapter Four of his life, he said, is still to be determined.
If there’s one primary lesson Bridges hopes people take away from his presentation, it’s to not limit yourself. He believes you should always be willing to take chances and not pigeonhole yourself to one certain area, especially when deciding on a career field.
It’s advice that’s led him to where he is today.
“There’s not just one path,” Bridges said. “I hope they can take away to always be open to opportunities and challenges. Being willing to try things and do new challenges that were presented to me have really gotten me to where I'm at today.”
Bridges began as USI’s Interim President in July 2024. He is a longtime USI employee, two-time USI alumnus and is the first alum to serve in this leadership position.