Faculty

Lawrence Friedken is a clinical associate professor of accounting and director of the Master’s in Taxation program. Prior to joining the Penn State Smeal College of Business, Larry headed the University’s payroll and tax functions and was a department head for the local office of a Big 4 tax department. Larry has taught university tax courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for more than 20 years. He specializes in individual, corporate, and exempt organization tax issues. Larry was the recipient of the Alexander Loeb Award for the second highest score in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the November 1987 CPA Exam.

Edward R. Jenkins, CPA, CGMA, is a seasoned business executive with an extensive educational background in business. That combination of experience and education provides practiced realism in his writing and teaching. His teaching interests include taxation, accounting, international business, and finance. His research interests include taxation, accounting, and finance, with special interests in multinational taxation, mergers and acquisitions, and ASC 740.

Jenkins is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Tax Executive Committee (TEC). The eighteen members of the committee are responsible for tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA; TEC provides advice to Congress, Treasury, and the IRS regarding statutes, regulations, and other policy/procedure matters. Additionally, TEC is responsible for the development and maintenance of enforceable professional standards of tax practice for CPAs.

Carlos Vaca Valverde advises multinationals on a broad range of international tax matters at DLA Piper, including general international tax planning, value chain structuring, restructurings, IP migrations, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Before joining DLA Piper, Carlos worked for New York and Washington, D.C., national offices of two big-four accounting firms for nearly ten years, concentrating on outbound U.S. international tax matters. 

Michael Rosenberg practiced as a tax attorney for forty years at Packman, Neuwahl & Rosenberg in Miami, where he spent much of his time advising foreigners investing in, doing business in, or immigrating to the U.S., as well as advising U.S. persons investing, doing business, or emigrating abroad. He was also employed with Deloitte Touche, where he was an international tax manager and a member of that firm’s U.S. international tax group. Michael has taught for Florida International University, Florida Gulf Coast University, and the University of Miami Law School. He also created international tax courses for the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Michael co-authored and authored several books. He was a co-founder of the Florida Bar-FICPA International Tax Conference, for which he served as a co-chair for more than twenty years.

Dr. Kristy M. Schenck has been a clinical associate professor of accounting at Penn State Smeal College of Business since 2019. Prior to joining Smeal, she was an assistant professor of accounting at Bucknell University for seven years. Before entering academia, Dr. Schenck became certified as a CPA and spent time working in a variety of areas in the accounting field, including as an auditor for the Department of Defense and for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Shiwei Wu practices in tax law, including international tax, corporate tax, partnership tax, individual income, and gift and estate tax, as well as state and local income and transfer and sales taxes. He assists clients in implementing structures designed for investment into the U.S. or for preimmigration tax planning, and he advises on outbound tax issues.