Business Administration A.A.
Bucks accounting professor Judith Toland '79 may be at the head of the class with all of the answers today, but she began her time at Bucks as a 17-year-old work study student who, along with her sister, was the first in her family to attend college. As the daughter of blue-collar immigrants from England, Judy was expected to work after high school, but she had dreams of college she was determined to fulfill. Although her parents could not help with tuition, Bucks offered a combination of loans, grants, and work-study that allowed Judy to finance her education on her own.
"I did secretarial work in the Bucks Financial Aid office. They were great and so supportive. They let me come back to work over summer break and Christmas holidays. This made me really appreciate college. I truly loved my years learning and working at Bucks."
"Bucks has a high standard and prepared me very well for my next step at Bloomsburg University, so there was not a different level of challenge when I transferred. The hardest part was living away from home and missing my friends."
Judy also faced family challenges during her first semester at Bloomsburg when her father suffered serious heart issues, making her first months even more difficult. She understands first-hand that class assignments are not the only stressors students face and hopes that students will follow advice she gave herself during those hard months--take things one day at a time.
This mindset also helped when, after graduating from Bloomsburg and working in private accounting and public accounting for a time, Judy married and had children and didn’t want to return to corporate accounting.
"My sister said, 'Why don’t you apply to Bucks? You always loved Bucks.' So, in 1989, I did. I was hired part time but didn’t have an upper-level degree required for a full-time position. My Dean encouraged me to get my Masters, which I earned from Temple while teaching here part time. I started at Bucks full-time in 2002. "When I was finding it hard having three small children and going to grad school, my Bucks Dean Catherine McElroy would say, 'You can do anything for 15 weeks.' I looked up to her and thought, that's what helped her get to her position. So, I try to remind my students of that and let them know that they can do it."
One of the highlights of Professor Toland's career has been coauthoring the leading payroll textbook in the country, Payroll Accounting
"Fifteen years ago, my colleague Bernie Bieg invited me to co-author with him. Because payroll laws change every year, it was an annual edition. I recently retired from that; 2023 was my last edition because I wanted to spend time with my grandkids. But Bernie was such a fabulous teacher and mentor, and collaborating with him was the chance of a lifetime."
With her unique perspective as a Bucks alum as well as an experienced Bucks professor, Professor Toland provides valuable support to her students, such as encouraging them to reach out to professors and hone their communication skills.
“Students must be advocates for themselves, even though it may be out of their comfort zone to reach out to a teacher. They need to put that aside and put themselves out there, learn to be good communicators and get over the unconfident times, because they can do it. That's why we can be proud of ourselves when we succeed--because we worked for it. My most successful students are good communicators.”
Another challenge for students can be feeling that a topic or class is unimportant for their future, which can lead to apathy. Professor Toland remembers something similar as a student but received some excellent advice.
“When I transferred to Bloomsburg, my roommate's father told me something I will never forget. He said that getting a degree tells an employer that you are trainable. This came up because I was complaining about some courses I didn't think were relevant, so I try to motivate my students to persevere through challenging times and get that degree!”
Finally, Professor Toland hopes students will appreciate the advantages Bucks’ small class size adds to their education. She recalls a time when her son, attending a large university, requested a recommendation from a professor but, because he was one of 200 in the classroom and didn’t have a personal connection, that professor initially declined.
“Here at Bucks, the class size enables us to know all of our students’ names. I feel like I have a good, transparent, and open relationship with my students and let them know that we are here for them and want them to succeed.
“I felt supported like that when I was a student here. Bucks was always a big part of my life…I grew up here.”