Purdue Global accounting professor receives national teaching honor

Since then, Self has worked in industry and academia, solving complex accounting issues and teaching the next generation of accountants.

Now, Self, a professor of accounting in Purdue Global’s School of Business and Information Technology, was honored last month with the 2024 Teaching Excellence Award by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). Self, who lives near Mobile, Alabama, received the regional award during the group’s June 27-30 conference in Miami.

While his name is on the award, he credits colleagues in the School of Business and Information Technology including Jeffrey Buck, dean; Pam DeLotell, associate dean; Tonjua McCullough, accounting department chair; and professors Gene Sullivan and Roger Mayer for their help. He also thanks his wife of 40 years, Stacy, for her support and for cheering him on all these years.

“They have been mentors to me as I went through this process,” Self said. “I have a great group of instructors and faculty who work with me. That’s why I believe that this award came to Purdue Global; it’s not just to me — it’s for Purdue Global and the people who work with me to benefit our students. Our students are the No. 1 goal for all of us.”

Self strives to be student-centered in his teaching approach.

“The students who sincerely come to learn and want to learn the material are 100% supportive of my efforts to help them. And the dynamics are entirely different. They have family, jobs, church, other obligations that they have to meet, and they come into the classroom already built in with a work ethic. The people who have that work ethic thrive,” he said. “We have people who want to learn, who are eager to learn, and they are a pleasure, and they are why I exist.”

Feedback is important to Self. He’s received all types of feedback from students, which has helped him become a stronger and more empathetic instructor. His students share ways in which they’re able to apply the knowledge Self imparted to them in the classroom, ranging from a better understanding of how their workplaces communicate about finances to being able to contribute to their departments.

“That’s the highest form of compliment, when someone understands something that I’m trying to get them to understand,” Self said.

Traveling the world, building programs

As Self was shifting from active to reserve duty in the U.S. Navy, he enrolled at a local university and began taking marketing classes.

When he agreed to help his sister with her taxes, it changed his career plans.

The following year, she came back and brought friends who asked him to do their taxes. Self started doing taxes — even switching to accounting for his degree — and had a thriving income tax business by the time he graduated college.

Following graduation, Self passed the U.S. Department of the Treasury exam and became an enrolled agent, allowing him to represent people before the IRS. As his tax practice grew, he went back to earn his graduate degree.

Self has worked for several multinational corporations in various capacities including controller, chief information officer and management accounting information systems manager, where he led accounting operations, taught others how to use computer accounting programs and integrated accounting programs across various divisions.

Self took his son on a college visit in 2003, which turned into a job offer. “I just mentioned to somebody that I was in accounting, and the next thing I know, I have this faculty member from the college come grab me by the elbow,” he said. “Both of the accounting professors had left and they needed someone to teach.”

After reaching a short-term agreement, Self began teaching and evaluating the accounting curriculum, which had not been updated in several years nor had any of their students pass the CPA exam. Self was hired to modernize the curriculum while he pursued a doctorate in accounting.

“Next thing I know, I’m teaching full time, and I’m shifting out of managerial accounting, professional accounting, and I’m becoming more of an instructor,” he said.

Before he left that institution and began working at Purdue Global, he had increased the CPA pass rate to 90% and developed an online Master of Science in accounting degree program, which was not implemented.

He started at Purdue Global as an adjunct professor, but the same work ethic, passion for teaching excellence and drive to help students succeed led the department chair to make him a full-time instructor. Self currently serves as lead for two courses, coordinating with other faculty members.

“I had no intention of going into accounting, but my sister must have seen something somewhere those many years ago,” Self said.

About Purdue Global 

Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults who have life experience and often some college credits. It offers flexible paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, military service and previous college credits, no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and backed by Purdue University. For more information, visit https://www.purdueglobal.edu.