At the start of Accounting 409 this fall, Patricia “Pat” Navarro Velez asked her students to share pictures and hobbies as a way of opening up the discussion and getting to know each other. In turn, she gave them a glimpse of her life.

“Seeing her face light up when she talked about how much she loved cooking and her family was amazing,” said Kyra Larossa. “In the photo she shared with us, she showed us how proud she was of her new 25-quart brazier in the kitchen. She’s adorable, and the photo still makes me smile.”

Navarro Velez asked her graduate assistant, Jennifer Lopez, to gather the photos into a roster so that she could better remember each student throughout the course. This merging of her life at home — a devoted wife and mother of four — with her life as a dedicated professor of accounting information systems at UNLV, is the embodiment of who she was, and evident in the memories shared by students, faculty, and colleagues both near and far. 

Navarro Velez, 39, was untimely taken at the Dec. 6 shooting on UNLV’s campus.

“It’s hard to talk about someone when they’re no longer with us,” said Lopez. “But it’s hard not to agree with a lot of the other sentiments shared about Pat. She was a larger-than-life person. She was approachable. She was kind and loving. She really cared about her family. She was always there to help her students and explore the career possibilities in accounting.”

Navarro Velez joined the UNLV Accounting family in 2019 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Central Florida (UCF). She quickly got to work — unlocking a “promising and timely stream of research focused on cybersecurity and data analytics,” according to Jason Smith, UNLV Accounting chair, while creating deep connections with her students and fellow faculty members.

“Pat immediately made a positive impact in the lives of students and her colleagues. She had a larger-than-life personality, an infectious smile, and a genuine kindness that made everyone around her feel like family,” said Smith.

Her scholarship and time at UNLV was bolstered and informed by how she got here.

Originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico, Smith says that Navarro Velez’s story resonates with many students at UNLV. Instead of heading straight into her doctoral studies after earning a Master in Accountancy at Bowling Green State University, Navarro Velez worked in risk assurance at PwC — a prestigious, international accounting firm, known as one of the “Big 4” — for over five years. Her Ph.D. mentor at UCF, Steve Sutton, noted that her “unique and high demand skillset” at PwC was difficult to replace, and her managers tried to convince her to stay. “Pat did not waver. She wanted to be a teacher, mentor, and scholar; she knew what her dream was,” Sutton said.

Smith shared similar sentiments at UNLV’s press conference on Dec. 8.

“She was a pioneer who worked her way through three universities into a challenging job at one of the largest public accounting firms in the world and who later chose to return to the classroom as a professor to share her passion for accounting and information systems while encouraging and mentoring students who were beginning their own journeys and professional adventures.”

For Lopez, it was Navarro Velez’s nontraditional path that resonated with her. After studying Spanish and biology for her undergrad, and working in what she felt was an unfulfilling job in retail, Lopez returned to higher education last fall to pursue a master’s degree.

“She of all people truly understood that not everyone takes the most direct path to their ultimate career or getting their Ph.D.,” said Lopez. “She connected with us.”

Adrian Gordon felt an immediate camaraderie with his new professor when he entered the ACC 409 classroom for the first time. They both come from underrepresented backgrounds. Gordon, who will be graduating in spring 2024 with a bachelor’s in accounting and who is Black, shared that Pat was his first minority teacher in the accounting program. 

“Unfortunately, [a lack of diversity] is a problem in the accounting profession,” said Danny Siciliano, senior lecturer at UNLV and a colleague who shared a touching tribute on LinkedIn recently. “Minority representation is not where it needs to be. It’s important for our students to have role models like Pat.”

On the first day of the new semester, Gordon went to the front of the room and spoke to his fellow classmates about joining the UNLV chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honor organization for financial information students.

“I remember that she looked at me like she believed in me,” Gordon said. “She was so interested in what we had to say, and in us as people.”

That sentiment must have been the consensus of the class. One of the first notes placed at the memorial at the entrance to UNLV’s campus read: “Professor Navarro, your kind sweet smile and passion for teaching will never be forgotten! Your ACC 409 students will forever remember you.”

Gordon recently started a UNLV chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants, and before last Wednesday’s tragedy, was looking forward to sharing his plans with Navarro Velez. He was working on an event to encourage local firms to put more diversity, equity and inclusion efforts into their recruiting.

“She was really an anomaly,” Gordon said, adding that he sat at the front of the classroom for each class session. “It made me feel comfortable to stand out.

“Obviously we can’t have Prof. Navarro back, but I hope that we can find some way to make sure that her spirit sticks — that we mitigate this loss as much as we can, and that we don’t allow this to take us back in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Like Gordon, Glori Roque-Melendez, a lecturer of accounting, felt an immediate connection to Navarro Velez based on their shared backgrounds growing up in Puerto Rico and studying accounting at Bowling Green State University.

“When we saw each other the first time, we embraced each other like we were friends forever,” she said. Glori quickly became the newest member of the Navarro Velez “Framily” — friends who become family — filling the past year of their new-ish friendship with a lifetime of memories.

“She always found excuses to get together,” said Roque-Melendez, beyond their frequent have Monday and Wednesday lunches. “She has built a great community here of friends and introduced me to so many wonderful people.”

At a blended Thanksgiving gathering at her family’s house, Navarro Velez asked everyone to wear burgundy. She was, perhaps, envisioning a color-coordinated photo of the Framily she could share at the start of classes in the spring.

“I can’t even express how difficult this loss is,” she said. “You could always feel that she was full of joy, full of life,” Roque-Melendez said. “She always excelled in everything she did as a proud Puerto Rican. I just want to make her proud and make sure that her legacy endures forever.”

Tributes to Patricia Navarro Velez

Email us to add your own memory to this page.

I am still #shocked - and deeply gutted and saddened by the passing of my dear friend and colleague Patricia Navarro. She was more than a friend and a colleague to me - she and I got our PhD from the same school (UCF College of Business at the University of Central Florida) so we are forever academic brother and sister, we are #family 🖤💛. She was also an active member, alumna and major contributor of The PhD Project that I have also been supporting in different ways so we bonded through this as well.

She was so intelligent, brilliant, fun and #passionate about life but also about her work. I will miss Pat's smile and sense of humour and all the laughters we shared together.

The last times I saw her were at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting in 2019 in San Francisco (when we celebrated her PhD graduation!) and the EAA - European Accounting Association Annual Congress in 2022 in Bergen, Norway - these were such fun times.

I will miss you dear sister.

— Charles H. Cho (from LinkedIn)

Patricia, a shining star in our department, possessed a smile that could light up any room. Her infectious positive energy touched everyone she encountered. As a devoted mother of four, a cybersecurity scholar, a loving wife, and a cherished colleague, Patricia embodied resilience and compassion. For four years, she imparted her wisdom in accounting information systems to UNLV students, making a huge impact on their lives and career choices.

Shortly after she started with us, I recall working alongside Patricia during a time-sensitive committee project. Her exceptional work ethic and swift execution left me in awe. Little did I know that she worked late at night, prioritizing her family above all else. Patricia’s commitment to excellence was unwavering. I recall telling another colleague how impressed I was with her.

Today, our hearts ache for her untimely passing, and we stand in solidarity with her family. Let us continue to pray for them and the families of the other victims. I am grateful for the prayers, love and support that so many have given our department over the last three days. Our department is reeling with this loss but we are also overwhelmed by the incredible support the community has given us. 

— Danny Siciliano (from LinkedIn)

Pat, Dana Wallace (a faculty member at UCF and also good friend of Pat’s), and I have been working on a complicated research project that will not end. We started the project while Pat was a Ph.D. student at UCF and have revised this paper several times. Pat played a major role in this project, and we were in the last stages of revising the paper to resubmit it to an interested journal when she was killed. Pat, Dana, and I started meeting for breakfast at the Omelet Bar near campus to work on the paper. Pat and Dana both have children at home, and we would meet after their early morning time with their kids was finished. The restaurant had electrical outlets at each booth, and they didn’t mind us working there.

It was so productive and so fun all at the same time. We sometimes laughed at what each of us would order, took time to catch up on everyday life, and would stay for hours working on the paper. Working with Pat didn’t seem like work. Even the negative feedback we received from reviewers and the stress of the revisions could not dampen her enthusiasm or her determination. I could not be pessimistic around Pat. Pat was so very smart, developed great strategies for moving the project forward, worked tirelessly, and kept me from ever giving up on the project. Another friend and colleague, Nadra Pencle, told me she had spoken with Pat only days before her death and that Pat was telling her how excited she was by our latest progress. Even though early in her career, Pat exemplified how to be the best kind of scholar, and how to do that while living a whole, compassionate life.

— Robin W. Roberts

I have known and mentored Pat for the past ten years. She is one of the very best Ph.D. students/graduates I have had the honor to work with as she developed into an incredible scholar and teacher.  

When I interviewed Pat for the Ph.D. position, I knew I was speaking with someone who clearly knew they wanted to become a teacher and mentor students — as well as a high quality researcher who could contribute to knowledge creation in her specialty area. As anyone who has met Pat would know, her passion and caring was immediately obvious. There was no question whether I would want to work with her.

Ph.D. programs are time demanding, invariably have major times of performance pressure, and will be stressful at times. I always try to regularly check in with my students and make sure they are doing okay and things are not getting too overwhelming. While I knew Pat enough to know she was feeling the pressure and stress, whenever I visited her office, she still had that welcoming glowing smile, exuding optimism, and showing a joy in what she was learning.  

Once Pat headed to UNLV, she became the productive and in-demand researcher that we all expected. Her publications were only starting to appear in print while another half dozen projects were working through the pipeline and nearing publication. She built working relations with UNLV researchers and was quickly developing an international network of co-researchers as her reputation for high quality research rapidly spread. We remained close and we were still working on four research papers with another project planned. Pat did not waver, she wanted to be a teacher, mentor and scholar; she knew what her dream was.

— Steven G. Sutton 

I am a professor of accounting at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, in my 54th year in academia. I'm a former department chair and former dean of UPR's School of Business. I met Patricia in May of 2007 when she was about to obtain her undergraduate degree at UPR in Ponce. We were celebrating the 17th annual accounting research competition for undergraduate students. I was the president of the organizing committee, and I was there for the presentations of the three finalists. Patricia was one of them. When her turn came to present, I was very impressed by her aplomb, the depth of her research and her presentation skills. 

Patricia won the first prize. (In the photo she appears with her classmates and accounting professors). At the end of the activity, I approached her, congratulated her on her achievement, and I asked her what were her plans after graduating. She candidly confessed that she had no idea and that maybe she would look for a job in a local firm in Ponce. I asked her if she would be interested in a master's degree. She said that she would like to consider it but had no idea about where to do it and how to apply. I immediately gave her the phone number of Dr. Alan Lord, from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and told her to call him ASAP. 

Precisely, I was going to BGSU as a visiting professor for the 2007-08 academic year. Two of my undergraduate students from UPR San Juan had been recruited by Dr. Lord. In mid August, already in BGSU, I asked the two students, Alejandra and Chiara, to come to my office. To my immense and pleasant surprise, a third student came to my office, Patricia. The feedback from my fellow faculty on Patricia was very positive. She was recruited, not by a small local firm, but by a Big Four firm, PwC. She spent six years in the San Juan office and had been promoted to audit manager when I asked her to teach one course on AIS at UPR San Juan. She taught the course again the following semester and that experience made her realize that her future was in academia. With the help of Dr. Lord, she was admitted to the Ph.D. program in UCF. Five years later she graduated, and her dissertation was chosen as the best in the AIS area. 

Patricia was brilliant, disciplined and articulate. She had a sense of gratitude. She told me countless times that I had made a difference in her life and that our chance encounter in May 2007 changed her life forever. She used to refer to me as her mentor and "academic father." I was extremely proud of her and her untimely death has made me suffer immensely. 

— Dr. José A. González Taboada

Pat and I are coauthors and friends. We are both women who are passionate about our careers, are similar in age, have a similar number of kids, and care deeply about our extended families. It was not hard for me to immediately feel connected to Pat. My best memories with Pat are attending conferences with her where we were both always willing to sit at the bar with a beer and just talk about work and life, often staying until the bar closed. She was a fun, energetic, happy, hardworking, brilliant, creative, and loving person. She’s what I call “good people”. A good soul. I love her and will miss her dearly. 

— Dana Wallace

You are the shining star of the family, with your many achievements and your heart. 

I cherish a memory when, as a little girl on Three Kings Day, you eagerly awaited a small gift at my home. I could only get a simple knitting kit, but it turned out to be your favorite gift, and you lovingly crafted kitchen grips and coasters for drinking glasses. Monin, your mother, added more lace to the collection — bright, exuberant, and simple.  

Thank you for talking to my son George, who loves you very much. You understood him, a unique connection in our family. I don't know how to say goodbye; I just wanted to say hello and know that you are well. God bless you dear niece. To me you are dancing around the Universe. See you soon. I love you a lot. 

— Titi Celin