New faculty introduction: Daniel Szpiro
Szpiro is a visiting senior lecturer in accounting at Johnson
With the academic year upon us, meet the newest faculty from across the SC Johnson College of Business and learn about their academic focus, teaching, and interests.
Danny Szpiro | Visiting Senior Lecturer | Johnson
What are your research and teaching areas of focus?
Most of my teaching has been focused on the core courses in financial accounting and managerial accounting in the Executive MBA programs. My research has focused on the organizational learning that can take place in the capital investment review process within organizations.
What class(es) will you be teaching this year?
I’ll be teaching the financial accounting courses in the EMBA Americas program and the EMBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership programs. I’ll also be teaching the managerial accounting courses in the EMBA Metro New York program and the EMBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program.
What attracted you to the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and to the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, specifically?
I first joined the Samuel Curtis Graduate School of Management in 2004 as the founding Director of what is referred to today as the EMBA Americas program. I left Johnson in 2012 but when the opportunity came up to teach again at the School I was excited to return. The EMBA students attracted to the School’s program are excellent to work with and the international footprint of the EMBA Americas program, in particular, makes for a wonderfully dynamic teaching experience.
Have you adapted your research or teaching focus in any way because of COVID-19?
I have had the opportunity to be involved with remote and technology facilitated teaching for more than 20-years. Thanks to that experience, I have not had to adapt my teaching focus to face the new demands placed on us due to the pandemic.
What first sparked your interest in (your research/area of study)?
I spent almost a decade in the consumer electronics industry before returning to school and changing careers to become an academic. While in industry, I was fascinated by the financial planning demands of the production in an environment with ever-shrinking product life cycles. That sparked my interest in studying organizational financial management.
What do you like best about teaching?
The very first opportunity I had to teach was as a ski instructor! I loved helping people develop new skills in that role and the same is still true today. The biggest thrill I get in teaching is when a student has that “a-ha” moment and some principle or topic suddenly snaps into focus. That’s a lot of fun to see happen.
What do you do to recharge?
This summer, it’s been golf. I have been lucky to get onto the Robert Trent Jones at Cornell course early in the morning several times a week this summer. I find the concentration you have to apply to golf helps clear my mind of other things, at least for a few hours.
