Geoffrey Tickell
For Geoffrey Tickell, a faculty member in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, the best part of teaching comes when students grasp something they had struggled with before. He knows that students succeed because they put in the effort, and that’s what he encourages all his students to do. Learn about him in this installment of Meet Our Faculty.
What is it about accounting that initially drew you in—and ultimately keeps you interested?
I initially struggled with learning accounting and much preferred economics, but, at the time of my graduation, the jobs were in accounting academia and not economics, so that path was chosen for me. I persisted with accounting, and while I am still learning new concepts even today because the rules change, I have a comprehensive understanding of it.
Why do you enjoy teaching in this discipline?
The nice thing about learning accounting is that you know when you have got the correct answer. Also, as a teacher, sometimes you can see the light bulb in the student’s head turn on as they finally get what is going on in the discipline. That light-bulb moment is rewarding and often a relief.
What advice would you give students about how to succeed in college?
To succeed in college as a student is simple: Go to every class. If you have 100 percent attendance, then you know what is going on in that course all the time. If you miss class, then it becomes easy to miss the work and not succeed in the course. So, make an effort to go to every class. Also, you get out of a course what you put into it. So, give each course your best shot.