David Mona
Assistant Professor
Degree Program: Accounting
In class or on the ice, David Mona is passionate about Champlain
A leader in the class or on the ice
Even after 20 years, David Mona is still the new kid in Accounting. An assistant professor who teaches Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting, David considers the greatest strength of the Accounting program to be its faculty. "I am the junior faculty member with only 20 years' experience!" he says. "Yet with all this experience we veterans still enjoy coming to work each day and staying current with changes in our field and in accounting education. This same experience gives us a wealth of contacts in the community in terms of placing our students in jobs and internships," he notes. "Former students are returning and interviewing current students for positions in their firms!"
The benefits of community
David feels strongly about the close-knit Champlain community. "At how many other colleges and universities do faculty members eat in the student cafeteria with the president on one side and a member of physical plant on the other side, all on a first name basis?" he asks.
For him, the strongest appeal of teaching at Champlain is "the ability to make a positive impact on the lives of some young people," which he feels the entire faculty accomplishes via "personal attention to students through small class sizes, advising, and other activities. The vast majority of students," David says, "seem to connect with at least one faculty or staff member to the point where there is someone looking out for them and they know they have a place to turn if need be. It is often not their formal advisor. And they select us, not vice versa. This has been a constant for the 20 years I have been here."
Beyond the classroom
In addition to a practical knowledge of accounting and how to use the information that accounting provides, David most wants his students to have gained "a new way of looking at the world, an ability to think, make decisions and be resourceful no matter what challenges come their way." On a personal level, David continues, "I want my students to think they got their money's worth in my class in terms of both education and the way the class was conducted. We are, after all, in a customer service business!"
David serves as the Math and Accounting Lab coordinator. When he's not in the classroom, you'll find this avid hockey player on the ice (he's the advisor to Champlain's Hockey Club), on the ski slopes or listening to rock ‘n' roll.
He holds a Bachelor of Science from McGill and a master's degree from St. Michael's College.
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