Title: Lecturer
Department: Food Marketing and Agribusiness Management
Room:
Phone: (909)-869-2270
E-Mail: Rickmathias@earthlink.net
Home Page:
Cal-Poly is a great institution to obtain your undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is local and centrally located, class size (number of students per class 20-25) is small, Professor to student ratio is also small, individualized attention and course work is more focused, you and your classmates work as an integral whole and we help you to find employment after graduation.
It isn't just coursework, there is camaraderie and a sense of belonging. To illustrate, I taught Accounting (FMA 324) in the spring of 2003. All quarter, I had been preaching the need for marketers to approach product introduction with more skepticism. I used the metaphor of "Thinking inside the box" as opposed to "Thinking outside the box" to develop a realistic approach. Of course, most the students were marketing majors and at the NAMA awards banquet, I was given an award. It was a small square box that had written diagonally across the top in multi-colored block lettering the word "MARKETING". When I open the box it was empty but written on the inside panels of the box was the phrase "THINK INSIDE THE BOX".
Currently, I work for a small amusement firm as the Manager of Internal Audit and Human Resources. I have a wife and two (2) children. My two children are grown and have families of their own.
Having worked for 40 years in the Supermarket Industry, gives me a unique perspective on education. It must be functional. That is, education must translate into skills used for a lifetime. Developing skills in students is my task and challenge. With the small classes, I can focus on each student almost to the point of "individualized" education and develop problem solving as a format. Mostly, it is the excitement and thrill when a student learns and understands a concept for the first time.
Unlike most people, I started my education later in life (When I was in my 30's). I worked at night and went to school during the day at UC Irvine. After graduating with Honors in Biology and Economics, I continued working but was moved into many different positions.
When I graduated, I thought that I knew everything that there was to know. However, I soon realized that I didn't (know very much) and continued my education obtaining a Masters of Business Administration at Chapman University in Finance. Currently, I am pursing a Doctorate in Finance researching and developing economic models for equity markets.
The above degrees have allowed me to obtain a number of Certifications. These include: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).
My associations include: (1) AICPA - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; (2) IIA- Institute of Internal Auditors; (3) Phi Beta Kappa; (4) Alpha Gamma Sigma - Honor Society; and (5) Phi Alpha Mu - Lifetime member Social Science Honor Society.
"Small Business Financing", Harvard Business Review; "Detecting Duplicate Invoice Payments", Journal of Interdisciplinary studies; "Uses for Inputboxes to update spreadsheet data", Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
(1) Skiing; (2) gardening and (3) Stamp collecting. I love the snow and the feeling of the wind as I'm racing down a slope. The cold air gives me a sense of well-being. Gardening allows me time to work though issues.
My wife tells me that I spend too much time in the garden.
Stamp collection is the cheapest form of art collecting. I think that I collect stamps because of my accounting background. Everything has to be neat and in its place.
Generally, I teach 2 different courses (Accounting FMA 324 and Data Management FMA 375). Accounting is taught evenings in the Fall and Spring and Data Management is taught mornings in the winter.
Accounting (FMA 324) is presented using a managerial approach. That is, how managers would use accounting in their everyday business life. The student learns how to mine financial data and properly account for assets, liabilities, equity, expenses and revenue for a business.
A transactional approach is used to develop an understanding of basic accounting functions, financial statements are developed and strategic maps are created for company metrics.
Data Management (FMA 375) uses advanced statistics, econometrics, indices, hypothesis testing, modeling, and excel as an integral approach. The student learns statistics and forecasting using Microsoft excel. The student develops a model and a forecast for one of the Dow Stocks (30 Stocks) and indexes their stock using linear regression in order to predict the future price of that stock for the next year. In this course, we discuss stocks and methods of evaluating their past and future performances. Investing is for a lifetime and it is very important to get it right the first time.
For all my classes, I give sample exams which reflect the material that I feel is important and the sample exams are patterned after my exams. Students are allowed to use notes, books, computers, any class handouts and calculators on all my exams.
