SHARON M. LIGHTNER, Ph.D., CPA

Dr. Sharon M. Lightner teaches in the School of Accountancy at SDSU. Her primary teaching area is financial accounting. She is a three time recipient of the Most Outstanding Faculty Award in the School of Accountancy and has been selected the Most Influential Professor by the Most Outstanding Accounting Student on three separate occasions.

Dr. Lightner is very involved with Beta Alpha Psi , the national accounting honorary fraternity. She serves as faculty advisor to the Beta Eta Chapter at SDSU. She received the 1996-1997 Aztec Achievement Award at SDSU for the outstanding faculty advisor on campus and was selected as one of the six Beta Alpha Psi faculty advisors nation wide to receive a 1995-1996 Arthur Andersen Richard E. Claire Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award.

Currently, Dr. Lightner is committed to utilizing technology in the learning process. She has spearheaded the use of collaborative software in the accounting curriculum and in the activities of Beta Alpha Psi. She has shared her applications of technology via numerous presentations including Deloitte and Touche's Enhancing the Learning Experience Conference, Institute of Decision Sciences Western Regional Meetings, and SDSU's technology fair. One of her papers was selected for the Outstanding Paper in the Accounting Education Section at the Western Institute of Decision Sciences conference. She was one of three faculty members selected to develop the first courses for SDSU's online MBA course offerings in Fall 2000.

During Spring 1998 Dr. Lightner developed a three unit pilot course, Accounting 596: Experiential International Accounting: A Distance Learning Approach. There were 20 students enrolled in the class from 4 different countries: Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S. The students came to class from their campus in their home country: thus only the U.S. students were physically present at SDSU. Students were members of two teams; a national team consisting of the 5 students from their own country and an international team consisting of 4 members [one student from each country]. Class participants interacted using multi-person audio and video as well as text chat and email. The course was designed to include presentations by students with accompanying discussion, visiting panels of national accounting standards setters, and participation of practicing accountants from all nations. By many accounts, the course was a success. Dr. Lightner's efforts resulted in:

        Honors and AwardsRelated to International Accounting Course:

• 1998 - AICPA/AAA Collaboration Award
• 1998 - Faculty Recognition Award for 1998, selected by Steering Committee in College of Business Administration 

        Published Papers:

• "Experiential International Accounting: Using Distance Learning as an Alternative Approach," forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting Education( with C. Houston).

        Refereed Papers Before Professional Conferences Related to International Accounting Course:  

• “International Accounting Through the Internet,” The International Conference on Artiificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Finance, and Tax, November 2000 (with Leandro Cañibano and Jose Luis Ucieda)
• “Experiential International Accounting: Using Distance Learning as an Alternative Approach,” Western Institute of Decision Sciences Conference, April 2000, (with Carol Houston)
• “Collaborating with Practitioners to Offer an Experiential Accounting Class Via Distance Learning in Real Time to Students in Four Countries,” Program Book of Abstracts, Sixth EDINEB Conference in Bergen, Norway, June 1999 (with B. Hoffman, L. Nadig, J. Acieda and K. Hiramatsu).
• “Technololgical Challenges in Developing a Synchronous Distance Learning International Accounting Class,” Abstracts, The 22^nd annual congress of the Europena Accounting Association in Bordeaux, France, May 1999 (with B. Hoffman, L. Nadig, J. Ucieda, J. Lainez, and K. Hiramatsu).
• "Teaching International Accounting: A Distance Learning Approach," presentation at the 1998 International Association for Accounting Education and Research/Center for International Education and Research in Accounting Accounting Conference: Global Advances in International Accounting Research, October, 1998 (with Carol Houston).
• "Comptabilite Internationale: Projet International de Formation a Distance," Proceedings, NDIT/FPIT Conference at Ecole d'Ingenieurs de Fribourg in Switzerland, June 1998 [with Dr. Linard Nadig].
• "Una experiencia de docencia por Internet," presented at Proactividad, Empresa Y Ciberspaceio in Madrid, Spain, June 1998,(with Professor Leandro Canibano and Jose Luis Ucieda)