Accounting Professor of the Year 2020
This year, SCUAA is pleased to present the Accounting Professor of the Year award to Professor Neal Ushman. This professor needs almost no introduction for most Accounting majors because his class, Intermediate Financial Accounting II, is known to be challenging. However, this makes his Professor of the Year award all the more impressive.
Professor Ushman is a teacher that simultaneously holds his students to a high standard and wholeheartedly believes in their ability to meet those standards. Under his instruction, his students not only learn fundamental Accounting topics but master how to take initiative on their own learning as well. Over the course of his extensive teaching career at Santa Clara, Professor Ushman has implemented a flipped class format in which students watch lectures prior to attending his class. Through this structure of learning, students are encouraged to be proactive, independent learners. Students always complete the course with a high sense of accomplishment.
Professor Ushman also consistently incorporates real-world experience into his teachings and motivates the class to perform well while helping them understand what their profession will look like after college. It is rare for professors to give a true insight into how their class will directly affect their students’ careers but Professor Ushman is able to provide this unique perspective to his students. Many of his students agree that there is a mutual level of respect in his classroom; students respect his vast knowledge and experience of Accounting and he respects the students as competent individuals who are capable of mastering complex Accounting concepts.
Professor Ushman is an authentic and compassionate professor who is truly passionate about teaching Accounting. He is always willing to help students thoroughly understand the material and his efforts have helped set up many generations of SCU Accounting students for industry success. With all of this in mind, Professor Ushman has proved to not only be an integral part of the Leavey School of Business but to be someone who undoubtedly deserves the Accounting Professor of the Year award.