David Mona
Associate Professor
Associate Professor & Program Director, Accounting
25 Years and Counting
After years in the field as a cost analyst and estimator, Accounting Professor David Mona turned his expertise toward teaching accounting students what they really need to know about being an accounting professional. It’s working out well for Champlainers: 100 percent of his students have secured jobs in the accounting field prior to graduation.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A TEACHER? WHY?
After college I worked at GE for a number of years as a cost analyst and cost estimator. When I was getting my master’s in 1985, I saw an ad in the Free Press for a teaching position at Champlain—for only one semester. I got the job and have never looked back. It’s now been 25 years, and I still love it. The ability to make a positive difference in people’s lives to me is something extremely powerful.
WHY ACCOUNTING?
I originally chose engineering as my college major because my father was an engineer, but I started helping my roommate with his accounting classes—and although I wasn’t taking the courses, I was still able to help him. Engineering was OK, but I wasn’t passionate enough about it to do a good job, so I switched to accounting—that was a difficult call home…
WHAT WAS THE MOST SURPRISING THING ABOUT WORKING AT CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE?
The people who work at Champlain believe in the place and it shows. The other thing that’s been fascinating for me is the change. I’ve watched us go from a two-year to a four-year college, from being a little-known regional institution to the college of first choice for top students across the country and internationally. In my years here, I’ve seen the campus change physically, and then watched it span the globe. In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined that this school would be where we are today.
WHAT WOULD A STUDENT, NEW TO ONE OF YOUR ACCOUNTING CLASSES, FIND SURPRISING ABOUT IT?
They would be surprised at the writing they had to do. Many, many students have a stereotype in their minds that accounting is only about getting the right number in the right box. But getting to the right answer numerically is only half the job. I want my students to understand what the number is. Ultimately, I want them to be able to use the information that accounting puts out to make good business decisions. Most students think the class will be about preparing the information and they are surprised to find out how much time is devoted to figuring out how to use the information.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR JOB?
Watching students come back 10 years later as managers who are now hiring. Having former students call me for recommendations on current graduating students. To see someone from our single-parent program go from being practically penniless and living off assistance to owning their own condo or house, being totally self-sufficient.
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU THINK PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHAMPLAIN?
We have a lot to offer: take advantage of it.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE STRENGTH OF THE WAY CHAMPLAIN TEACHES ITS STUDENTS?
I think there is a definitive “Champlain way” that offers a very balanced education, a real-world applicability, and many of us bring our own experience in the real world into the classroom. And our students are applying what they learn—whether on campus, in internships or in jobs along the way before they graduate. We send out graduates who are ready to hit the ground running.
FINISH THIS SENTENCE: THE STUDENTS THAT ARE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AT CHAMPLAIN ARE THOSE WHO...
Work hard and play hard—in that order.
Game Art and Animation work created by student Michael Butcher