Patricia Johnson, assistant professor and program coordinator for the forensic accounting graduate program at Canisius, was recently awarded the 2015 Mark Chain/Federation of Schools Accountancy (FSA) Teaching Innovation Award for graduate-level accounting courses.  Her entry, “Detective, Critic, Curator, Investigator—A Novel Approach to Encouraging Student Research and Creativity,” involved a series of activities related to fraud examination. The activities encouraged students to explore topics that complemented the course content, promoted creativity and allowed them to make critical choices.

The model can also be applied to other courses to encourage exploration of new or complementary topics. The prestigious teaching award is sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Federation of Schools of Accountancy and Grant Thornton LLP. Johnson’s curricula will be included with those of past winners as part of the AICPA’s Accounting Professors’ Curriculum Resource tool, which is designed to encourage faculty and engage accounting students while furthering their knowledge of the profession.   Congratulations to Johnson on her recognition and her innovation in teaching graduate-level accounting material.

Submitted by: Sara Morris, PhD, associate vice president, academic affairs