Curtis Nicholls is a “big believer in the power of a liberal arts education.” An Associate Professor of Accounting and the Kiken Family Chair in Management at Bucknell for 16 “delightful” years, Nicholls considers accounting to be a true representation of the liberal arts philosophy that commits to “educating the whole person.” “Accounting has to be a part of that journey,” he says, because the practice has a hand in most “everything we do in life,” from personal finance to non- and for-profit organization work to resource management.
Nicholls began his journey at Bucknell specifically thanks to a combination of “exceptional” students and colleagues he met during his interviews and the “wonderful” impression he and his spouse got of Lewisburg that made them consider the area to be a great place to raise their family. Bucknell “felt like the perfect place to teach,” and Nicholls was hooked from day one.
The past few years have seen Nicholls fall into an academic rhythm. He’s taught a wide range of courses, but four in particular stand out as representative of his skillset and experience: Bucknell’s Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF), Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation (FSA) and Foundations of Accounting I & II. Nicholls “love[s] them all for different reasons.” SMIF allows him the opportunity to co-teach with Professor Frank Schreiner, an “incredible teacher and mentor,” and work with students to manage the portfolio across two semesters. FSA is “especially fun” because of its technical depth; as a higher level course, it builds on many prerequisites and is of a more significant rigor than typical lower-level classes. But when he does teach Foundations, Nicolls describes the experience as “pure joy”— the course connects directly to the financial world, and is a hands-on way to bring classroom concepts to life while keeping students engaged and giving them applicable real-world skills. He’s taught a Foundations course since his very first semester on campus and has “so many great memories from it.”
Initially in his career, however, Nicholls did not set out along a path of professorhood. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at Brigham Young University after transferring in from a smaller junior college in Idaho, and from there, took a position at the corporate headquarters of John Deere. He was working in the tax department for a company with a mission he truly believed in—tractors that help harvest food for the world, building strong technical skills and doing lots of collaboration. But eventually, Nicholls moved to the grocery chain Albertsons and worked in their corporate headquarters. A year later, he left the company to pursue his PhD in Business Accounting at the University of Colorado in Boulder, which he earned in 2010, and came straight to Bucknell from there.
At Bucknell, Nicholls’ research focuses on technical accounting topics, with some additional work in pedagogy. One of the most valuable aspects of research to him is the collaboration he is able to do with students, describing it as “truly one of the most rewarding parts” of the job. He’s especially proud of a paper he recently co-authored with Natalie Greco ’24 and Cade Rooney ’25. “Seeing students bring fresh insight and energy to a project” is, to Nicholls, “incredibly inspiring.”
This past year has been full of highlights for Nicholls, personally and professionally, with a lot of overlap between the two. His list is practically endless because, in his words, there were “too many to count”: watching research co-author and good friend Cade Rooney make the game-winning interception in his final Bucknell football game; cheering for Jordan Hardy ’25 and Jen Sivak ’25 at every women’s volleyball game— “they were amazing”; going on the SMIF annual NYC trip, including a visit to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, “thanks to alums Chris Spahr and Taylor Lukoff”; attending every dance concert, where he was able to see so many of his students perform, including Ellie Urenko ’25 whom he’s “had the pleasure of teaching in four different courses”; witnessing the PWC Case Competition; walking the runway with friend and colleague Professor Matt Bailey (ANOP) at the “Freeman Authentically You Fashion Show” organized by Haden Williams ’27; celebrating his close friend and office neighbor, Professor Grant (MIDE), achieving tenure; proudly hearing about Nico Arbes’ ’25 recognition from ‘Poets & Quants’; viewing the “uplifting” art and photography from “amazing and gifted” student artists scattered through the third floor of Holmes Hall; “just missing” Clara and the Chi Phive’s every performance over the year; and many more.
For the graduating class of 2025, Nicholls hopes every student “finds fulfillment in both their personal and professional lives, and that they carry forward the curiosity, kindness and resilience they’ve shown here.” His advice? “Stay open to learning, and look for ways—big or small—to meaningfully give back to others and the communities you’re a part of.”
