April 30, 2012
God Bless America! Remember September 11,
2001!
TTU Is Now Offering Accounting Classes Online! For more information, contact us at AccountingOnline@tntech.edu.
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Office Hours: My office hours are posted on my door for the Spring 2012 term. Generally, I come into the office about 8:00am each day. Most of the day, I am in my office, except when I have meetings or I am teaching class. My policy is that, if I am in the office and don't have a pressing deadline, I will stop what ever I am doing to talk to you. Remember, my primary responsibility is to be your teacher and mentor. I can also be reached by email and I am available by appointment.
Courses I Teach:
I hope you will find this page useful. If you have any questions, please call me or e-mail at the above address.
I am a Professor of Accounting at TTU and I have
been on the faculty since 1989. In March, 2012, I was named the Earl
McDonald Professor of Business. I have a Ph.D. in Accounting and a Masters
of Accountancy, both from the University of South Carolina. My 1981
undergraduate degree is a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, where I majored in Accounting and where I was a member of
Delta Sigma
Pi. I also hold a North Carolina CPA license.
I am a member of the American Accounting Association, the AICPA, and the Tennessee Society of CPA's. I also currently serve as a Director for the Tennessee Society of Accounting Educators. My current research interests focus on the area of Corporate Governance, Distance Education, Small Business Risk Management, e-Business, and Forensic Accounting.
Normally, I teach 3 undergraduate courses per semester. I
also teach MBA classes in the Distance MBA Program. In all of my classes,
we make extensive use of the
Internet. My syllabi are available on
the internet. In keeping with TTU's emphasis on technology in the
classroom, I enhance all my classes with extensive use of iLearn as a course
management tool.
I mentioned above that I am in the office almost every day. My father worked for IBM for over 30 years. My grandfather worked for Genesco, in Nashville, for over 40 years. I was taught from a young age that when you get up in the morning, you go to work. That is my work ethic . . . go to work. As Dave Ramsey likes to say, I go out, kill something, and drag it home. To me, work is an honorable undertaking. Doing it well, with excellence, requires commitment, discipline, and a strong sense of responsibility. I am not one of those professors who shows up for class and then disappears. I am here for my students, because that is my job . . . and I love it. Next to being a husband and father, I can think of no more fulfilling calling than to teach. I hope that my efforts are worthy of that title. Regardless, I will do my utmost to teach my students and to be available for them.
In addition to my duties as a professor in the Department
of Accounting and Business Law, I spent 2 years as the first Director of the TTU
Distance MBA Program. As the first Director, I led a team that developed
TTU's program from scratch, starting in January 2002. The team included
Dr. Virginia Moore, Kevin Liska, Amy Carpenter, Barbara Glasscock, and Ernie
Williams (graduate assistant). We offered the first Distance MBA classes
in the Fall of 2002. When I left the job to return to teaching full time
in December 2003, the DMBA program had nearly 100 students and was generating
nearly $500,000 a year for the College of Business. The program has since
grown to over 150 students and was recently listed as a "Best Buy" among MBA
Programs in the United States.
From 1995 through 2004, I served as the Chapter Advisor for the Tennessee Tech Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the Accounting Honor Organization. During that time the chapter was recognized as a National Superior Chapter 7 years in a row. In 2004, I was named as a recipient of Beta Alpha Psi's National Outstanding Advisor Award.
Within the Department, I coordinate the Assurance of Learning
efforts for our AACSB Accredition efforts. We are currently accredited by
the AACSB, but will be up for re-affirmation of that accreditation in
2012. In addition, I serve as the advisor for the Online Accounting
Program. I also run special "pet" projects from time to time. This
December and January, I will be spearheading a Coat Drive in the Department of
Accounting. I will be working with both Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting
Club to coordinate that project. I have also recently started a
Technology Update Letter (see the link above). By Spring 2011, we
hope to actually set up an Accounting Technology Blog for the TTU Accounting
Community that includes students and alumni. Eventually, we will
incorporate contributions from many sources in the Blog
information. 
In Spring of 2011, the Department offered an Accounting International Experience for the first time. I was fortunate enough to be invited as one of the co-teachers for the experience. I am the lead faculty member for the trip in Spring 2012. Once again, the group will travel to London for a week of "cultural enlightenment". Experiences will include visits to Cambridge and Oxford, the ICAEW, the IASB, the London office of a Big-4 Accounting firm, several UK businesses, as well as local attractions. Admission to the course is by instructor permission, and an application and essay are required as part of the selection process. The class this year will include 12 students. Dr. Dan Fesler will co-lead the trip this year.
I try to keep busy outside of school. My favorite
hobby is riding and showing quarter horses with my daughter. My daughter shows
competitively in the AQHA. We are
members of the Tennessee Quarter Horse
Association, and in 2008 and in 2010, we won several State
championships. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for the
TQHA.
Professional Accomplishments . . . Baseball Sites I have visited:
In addition to riding, I
enjoy playing golf (on a good day, I drive the ball about 230 yards, and have a
handicap of around 25 . . . but I am getting better!), Bluegrass music, watching
college basketball (Go Heels!), watching big league baseball (Go RedSox!), and
reading books about America's founding fathers and American history. My
family and my faith in God keep me grounded. I attend church
regularly at Washington Avenue
Baptist Church in Cookeville.
Cool Places I Have Been and Things I Have Seen . . .
Great Speakers I Have Seen and People I Have Met:
