Joan L. Lee
Fairfield University, Dolan School of Business
“Dr. Lee has won numerous awards for her work with the students in the areas of accounting and ethics. She was recently awarded the 2024 Excellence in Accounting Ethics Award from the American Accounting Association. She also received the 2019 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the American Accounting Association. Passionate about ethics, Dr. Lee led a team of undergraduate students to place first in the Providence College Michael Smith Ethics Case Competition which took place in February 2024. The competition included one team each from Canada and Mexico in addition to 10 U.S. teams. The teams were challenged to evaluate the problems associated with AI chatbots, directly connecting their work to ethical theories.” – Anca Micu, Senior Associate Dean
Joan Lee, 64, is Professor of Accounting and Deloitte Fellow in Accounting at the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University where she teaches financial and managerial accounting, ethics and accounting ethics.
Her research is focused primarily on accounting education, Ignatian pedagogy and ethics.
Lee has been recognized multiple times for her teaching and scholarship. She has won the Innovation in Accounting Ethics Education Award of the Public Interest Section of the American Accounting Association (jointly with Dawn Massey) in 2024; the American Accounting Association Outstanding Educator Award in 2019; the Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. Award from Colleagues in Jesuit Business Education in 2014; and the Innovation in Accounting Education Award from the American Accounting Association (jointly with Dawn Massey) in 2001.
Lee was named Alpha Sigma Nu Teacher of the Year 2008 at Fairfield University. She serves on multiple editorial boards of academic journals and is an editor of the Journal of Jesuit Business Education. She is a past President of Colleagues in Jesuit Business Education and has served on its board since 1999.
BACKGROUND
At current institution since what year? 1997
Education:
- BS in Accounting, Fordham University 1981
- MBA in Finance, Fordham University 1985
- PhD in Accounting, New York University 1997
List of Undergraduate courses you teach:
- Introduction to Financial Accounting
- Introduction to Managerial Accounting
- Business Ethics
TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR
I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when … I was in college; I had always wanted to be a teacher, but realized then that I could teach at the college level.
What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? The two primary foci in my research are ethics and pedagogy. My most recent paper shares a way to teach professional skills (“soft skills”) to accounting students without removing technical content by changing the way you teach the technical content.
If I weren’t a business school professor, I’d be … some other kind of teacher; I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was young.
What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? Students tell me I “wear my heart on my sleeve” and my caring for the students is very obvious to them.
One word that describes my first time teaching: Awful – I thought all students learned in the same manner as I did. Fortunately, I quickly learned that was not the case.
Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: It’s emotionally exhausting as well as physically exhausting – at least when you teach the way I do. I also wish I had realized earlier I should shift to active learning; that it doesn’t help to “cover” all the material if the students don’t learn it.
Professor I most admire and why: Art Sullivan. He was a professor of mine in both my undergraduate and Masters studies. When I was an undergrad, Art pulled me and a close friend out of class, and told us we were too smart to be in that class so he wanted us to attend his graduate class, which we did for the rest of the term. He also told me that I should become a professor. When I encountered him again in graduate school, he again pulled me out, this time because he told me that I had already taken his grad class so I should help him teach it instead … and that I should become a professor. Art saw a gift in me I didn’t see in myself. It’s something I’ve tried to do with my students ever since.
TEACHING BUSINESS SCHOOL STUDENTS
What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? I have wonderful students who generally are very engaged in class, but I most enjoy getting to know them more deeply when they come to my office hours or just stop by to chat.
What is most challenging? There have been so many articles written about the fact that students today don’t read. It’s hard to learn accounting without reading at least part of the text!
In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Anyone who is open to learning.
In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: One who doesn’t believe they need to learn anything.
When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as … Tough, but understanding
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
What are your hobbies? Sailing, kayaking, playing the piano, reading, visiting craft breweries. It’s not quite a “hobby,” but I spend a lot of my time outside school with the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary to the USAF. I’ve been a member for more than twenty years, currently serving as a Group Commander for the Catskill Mountain Group and as the Director of Education and Training for New York Wing.
How will you spend your summer? I’ll go to the Jesuit Business Conference and the Accounting Conference, do a lot of sailing and reading, and catch up on all the things I never get to during the academic year.
Favorite place(s) to vacation: Newport, RI or Ireland
Favorite book(s): No one particular book; I like to read novels by Clancy, Grisham and others.
What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? I’m not sure I have a favorite movie, but Miracle is one I can rewatch again and again. I’ve always been a hockey fan and remember exactly where I was, watching the game when the US Men’s hockey team beat the Russian team at Lake Placid, which is at the heart of the movie.
What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I like show tunes, especially from Rogers & Hammerstein or Lerner & Lowe shows, as well as country music. Both of them tend to tell stories, and include witty turns of phrase. For example, look at the lyrics in “The Lusty Month of May” or “Then You May Take Me to the Fair” from Camelot.
THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS
If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this … It would have a greater focus on ethics and the common good and less focus on shareholder primacy. We need to educate the leaders who are going to transform our world … in a good way.
In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at … caring for their employees, caring for the environment, being positive role models in our society.
I’m grateful for … the many blessings in my life: family; friends; a job I love; the incredible experiences I’ve had teaching at a Jesuit Business school and as part of the global community of Jesuit Business faculty.
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