Biography
By drawing on over 10 years of professional experience as well as 12 years of college and university teaching experience, Professor Mabon challenges students to not only learn the technical details of the financial accounting courses she teaches, but also puts what the student is learning into a corporate world context. Ethics and especially the concept of earnings management and the pressure CFO’s are under to smooth earnings are discussed, thereby instilling a professional level of skepticism which is healthy for these future accountants, auditors, and financial analysts.
Since joining the faculty at CU-Boulder in Fall 2010, Professor Mabon has taught: ACCT 3220: Cost Management; ACCT 3220: Corporate Financial Reporting I (with both and IFRS and GAAP emphasis and in the 15-week format and the 8-week format); and BCOR 2000: Financial Accounting & Analysis. Over this period Professor Mabon’s student evaluations of her teaching have been excellent as evidenced by her most recent scores of 5.6, 5.6, and 5.5 in overall teacher effectiveness (on a 6-point scale). As to amount learned in the course, students indicated they learned a great deal (5.0 on a 6-point scale). The average section average was approximately a 2.8 in the junior-level courses and a 2.0 in the sophomore-level classes. Professor Mabon’s teaching experience prior to joining the faculty at CU includes: University of Oregon, University of Colorado Denver, Kent State University, and New Mexico State University.
She holds a CPA license in the state of Colorado, a master’s degree in Accountancy from New Mexico State University, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Arizona.
With regard to professional experience, Professor Mabon has worked in various industries including: service, retail, manufacturing, and government. Prior employers include: Boulder Country Club; Mike’s Camera; Horizon Organic Dairy; and the University of Colorado Boulder, Facilities Management. In addition to having experience in all type of industries, Professor Mabon has also worked in all forms of organizations namely: a not-for-profit; a small, family-held company; a publicly-traded company; and a large state government. All of these experiences have served to make her keenly aware of the corporate world that Leeds graduates will enter and the challenges they will face not only in ethical areas but also in the technical skills required to succeed.
Professor Mabon also serves as the faculty advisor to the student honors organization, Beta Alpha Psi. When she arrived, the chapter consisted of 54 members and was a mission-based chapter per national bylaws, which means it was achieving the minimum required status. In the brief time since she took over as the faculty advisor she has helped the officer teams grow the chapter from 54 members to 126 members. The chapter will soon achieve superior status, the highest designation awarded by the national office. This designation indicates that the chapter is very vibrant, active, and has a strongly committed membership base that is completing far more activities than just the minimum. She has recently been nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year for this organization, a national honor.
Her passion, care, respect, organization and work ethic in everything she does reflects the love she has for her chosen career and her students. “The true reward in life comes from helping others and assisting in their growth. Watching them grow into future young professionals and then going on to achieve their dreams is priceless.”
