James Clifton, assistant professor of accounting practice, fosters a collaborative learning environment in his classes. Clifton’s goal is to make his classes as engaging as possible. Students are expected to be actively calculating answers and discussing problems.
“My goal is to achieve an easy back and forth flow of information between the students and myself,” Clifton said. “I do that by knowing their names, participation points, attendance points, and doing my best to keep them actively engaged so as to encourage active learning style.”
Clifton currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in fraud examination and individual income taxation. He also oversees graduate students in the applied professional accounting research course.
Clifton holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Master of Accountancy. After earning his master’s, Clifton taught at NDSU from 1988 to 1990. After some time away, he returned to NDSU in 1998. Clifton enjoys being part of the positive impact NDSU has on students’ lives.
“I grew up in a rural town in North Dakota, so I’m familiar with the strong, quiet work ethic our students have,” he said. “While I love and appreciate their tremendous work ethic, they need to learn to blow their own horn, which is why I encourage participation so strongly.”