Accounting Professor Earns SLU's Top Teaching Honor

Accounting Professor Earns SLU's Top Teaching Honor

12/03/2024

Associate Professor of Accounting Neil Jansen is the recipient of the 2024 Nancy McNeir Ring Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The Nancy McNeir Ring Award is SLU's highest honor for teaching. The award is voted on by SLU's chapter of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, to acknowledge faculty members who display special dedication to students.

"Being the recipient of the Nancy McNeir Ring award is quite humbling given the dedication of the faculty across the entire university who strive to serve our students and live the Jesuit Mission daily through our teaching and service," Jansen said. "To be nominated and selected by Alpha Sigma Nu from among so many outstanding colleagues is something that I am very grateful for, and which will further motivate me in the future to continue to serve our students and the SLU community as a whole for many years to come.

Jansen will be recognized and deliver the commencement address at the 2024 Midyear Commencement Ceremony. SLU's 2024 Midyear Commencement will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Chaifetz Arena.

Jansen earned Bachelor of Science degrees in accounting and international business from Illinois State University in 1992. From there, the Albers, Ill, native began a career in the financial services industry.

Jansen went back to school and earned his master's of professional accounting degree from SLU in 1998 because he decided he wanted to make a switch to education.

"I was very happy in my role in the financial services industry, and I was very fortunate to be afforded new and challenging responsibilities as I progressed in my career," he said. "While I felt I was learning new things every day, I always missed the environment of higher education, and I wanted the opportunity to be able to teach but also to continue to learn. Joining the faculty at SLU has provided me with these opportunities and has allowed me to guide and impact the lives of so many students over the past 16-plus years."

He began teaching evening courses at Park University's School for Extended Learning at Scott Air Force Base in 2006 and then joined the faculty at SLU in 2008 as an accounting instructor.

"After teaching as an adjunct professor at the Adult Education Center at Scott Air Force Base for two years, I became aware of a full-time position at SLU," he said. "Returning to SLU as a faculty member was my dream job, so when the position was offered to me, it was an easy decision to make the move to academia."

At SLU, Jansen has been the director of the Master of Accounting Program since 2010 and an Associate Professor since 2024.

Jansen teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. Courses taught include Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Cost Management, and Financial Reporting III.

"I believe that learning is reinforced with extensive dialogue between the instructor and the students, and therefore greatly encourage student involvement by calling on the work and education experiences of both the students and myself," Jansen said.

Jansen's approach to teaching has earned him accolades. Before winning the Nancy McNeir Ring Award, he was named the Beta Alpha Psi Outstanding Faculty Member of the Department of Accounting three times (2010, 2014, 2018), the Graduate Business Faculty Member of the Year in 2018, Student Government Association Faculty Excellence Award in 2018, and is a two-time winner of the Beta Gamma Sigma Outstanding Teacher Award in 2018 and 2021. Jansen has also earned the Debra Barbeau Non-Tenured Faculty Service Award in 2018 and 2023.

"Of course, I hope that my students leave my classes with the technical skills that will allow them to be successful in their professional careers," he said. "I also hope that they improve their communication skills and, above all, that they learn to respect others and to understand that learning does not end with final exams each semester, but rather is something we should strive to achieve every day, in everything we do.

Throughout his teaching career, Jansen said he has made it a priority to make contacts in the business community so he can bring guest speakers into his classes. The speakers offer his students a real-life look at their potential future careers.

"I think that bringing my professional work experience and relevant real-world examples into the classroom allows the students to see practical applications of many of the concepts discussed in class, from the basic to the very complex," Jansen said. "I always strive to be very personable, and try to arrive early to each class and engage the students in personal conversations to get to know them better. I also discuss some of the service initiatives that I am involved with to stress the importance of serving others and utilizing the talents that each of us have been blessed with."

In addition to his work at SLU, Jansen does some consulting work for outside organizations. He helped develop a course for the Archdiocese of St. Louis for newly ordained priests to help them better understand how to run a parish.

Jansen is a member of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Shiloh, IL. He also serves as a trustee for the parish and is a member of the finance council, where he regularly assists the pastor with decision-making in an advisory role.

The Nancy McNeir Ring Award was originally established in 1966 by SLU's chapter of Alpha Sigma Nu It was awarded annually from 1966-2008, and was re-established in 2016. It remains SLU's only University-wide teaching award.

This award was named in honor of Nancy McNeir Ring, the University's first dean of women, because of her devotion to the welfare of students. In keeping with tradition, Alpha Sigma Nu students review nominations and select the recipient each year.

Each school/college/center may nominate up to two faculty members for this award. The award carries with it $2,500 in professional development funds and is presented on stage at the December commencement ceremony, where the recipient presents the commencement address.

"I think it is a tremendous honor, and I hope that I am able to deliver a message to our graduates that will help guide them both in their personal and professional lives," Jansen said.