Student serving in Iraq completes his course work with help from UNT professors

Sgt. Oscar Lopez, a marine reservist, was reactivated last August to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the time, Lopez, a UNT accounting senior, was five courses short of completing his degree, so he approached O. Finley Graves, professor and chair of the accounting department, about taking Intermediate Accounting II while serving in Iraq. He took his textbooks with him overseas and corresponded electronically with Graves about the course.

"I told (Lopez) I could give him an incomplete if this became too difficult so that he could come back and take the course later," says Graves, who was initially hesitant about Lopez taking a course in the middle of a war. "But he did fantastic and got a great grade."

Lopez also took Cost Accounting with associate professor Neil Wilner at the same time and in the same fashion.

The courses were his escape from combat, Lopez says.

"Time is something that I usually have plenty of — although the months of October and November had been quite difficult due to Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah," he says. "I would always carry a book in my pack to read when time permitted."

Lopez's commanding officer administered his exams with instructions from Graves and Wilner. Currently Lopez has arrangements to take two more courses online, with hopes of returning to UNT to complete his degree this summer. He then plans to apply to Officer Candidates School.

BY RUFUS COLEMAN rcoleman@unt.edu

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