Posted on April 30, 2026 by Wendy Frost
Stephen Dinh grew up as a numbers kid. It just took him coming to the Carlos Alvarez College of Business to figure out what he wanted to do with those numbers — accounting.
Stephen Dinh
Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dinh was looking for a challenge and found that in accounting. Watching UT San Antonio grow and prosper, he chose to attend the university after graduating from Roosevelt High School in San Antonio.
“I wanted to be at a university that has the potential to be well known rather than one that already was,” he said. “I wanted to be part of something larger than myself.”
Dinh graduates this May with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Within the Alvarez College of Business he found amazing professors, made lots of friends and appreciated the growth in corporate partnerships.
“It has been awesome,” he said. “I loved my accounting professors to death. The two who inspired me most were Sayed Akbari, who had a similar upbringing to me, and Patrick Lee, who was tapped into the industry. They kept me focused on the program and assisted me through every step of the program. It would have been a tougher journey without them.”
Dinh’s ties to the college grew through his involvement in student organizations. He was a member of the Business Student Council, Business Honors Program and the Accounting Professionals of Tomorrow, where he served as director of professional outreach.
“The most memorable thing that I did was organize a Big Four day for APT,” said Dinh. “It was a full-day event, and we brought in speakers from each of the Big Four accounting firms. I also made great friends through the organization. Those connections are valuable from a personal perspective, and having friends in the industry, you can’t ask for more than that.”
Dinh also expanded his professional network by participating in internships. At the end of his sophomore year he applied for an internship with Valero and received it.
“Through the Business Student Council and the college’s Student Success Center they trained me how to write my resume,” he said. “I became more confident in my own skin and learned how to ask good questions.”
Dinh worked with Valero as an internal audit intern for over a year before leaving to complete an internship with KPMG in the audit practice. Following that internship this March, he returned to Valero.
“My work at KPMG was very hands-on,” Dinh said. “Because of my experiences working at Valero, working on two different engagements became more manageable. They treated me like a first-year associate, rather than an intern. It was an amazing experience.”
After graduation Dinh will begin studying for his CPA exams with plans to complete all four parts by March 2027. Reflecting on his three years in the college, Dinh shared that he accomplished so much, and it was the best three years of his life.
“The Alvarez College of Business is always reinventing itself,” he shared. “The connections they have in business, and how our faculty benefit from those perspectives is immeasurable. They are also doing a good job of innovating in the midst of AI. Faculty are rethinking how they teach and assessing what skills will be valuable once students join the workforce. I’m proud to become an alumnus, and I look forward to being able to give back in the future.”
— Wendy Frost
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