A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student is one of only 30 students in the nation to receive a scholarship from the National Society of Accountants.

Nathan Nalley, a senior accounting major, received a $1,100 scholarship from the National Society of Accountants Scholarship Foundation.

“The scholarship was a tremendous help for me,” Nalley said. “I am glad of the help to get me through my last semester of college.”

Nalley, 33, of Benton, is an accounting clerk at Windstream. Once he graduates in December, he plans to work at an accounting firm and eventually open up his own tax and bookkeeping business.

Since its inception in 1969, the National Society of Accountants’ scholarship foundation has provided more than $1 million to students pursuing an accounting career. Undergraduate and graduate students were selected based on academic achievements, leadership, activities, career goals, and financial need.

“These students are the best and brightest candidates working to earn accounting degrees,” Scholarship Foundation President Sharon Cook said in a news release. “We are pleased to support them and look forward to having them join the accounting profession.”

Nalley served as pastor of Gravel Hill Baptist Church in Benton for three years but left in 2016 to pursue a career to provide better for his growing family. Nalley and his wife, Carly, are the proud parents of four sons ages, 3, 5, 6, and 7.

He’s grateful to Shannon Gwinn, director of the Center for Student and Career Services in the UA Little Rock College of Business, for helping him find a job as an administrative assistant at Frazier & Rickels, P.A., less than a month after he enrolled at the university.

Since becoming a student at UA Little Rock in January 2016, Nalley has been active on campus, joining Beta Gamma Sigma, Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting Society. He also received the 2017 Beta Alpha Psi and Accounting Society Scholarship.

As a member of Beta Alpha Psi, for which he will serve as president in the fall, Nalley has given back by participating in service activities. The group hosts a Reality Fair in the College of Business that has students explore a career to find out what they can and cannot afford with the anticipated salary.

Twice a year, the group gives speeches on careers in accounting to students enrolled in the Arkansas National Guard Civilian Student Training Program, a residential program for at-risk boys.