Committed to the Classroom

Norma R. Montague loves being in the classroom. Though she began her career specializing in auditing at an accounting firm, she felt a calling to teach almost immediately.

“Within a year, I realized that I really enjoyed teaching at the firm,” she says. “We had lunch-and-learns, and I was often the one raising my hand to teach those sessions. I realized teaching accounting was my passion.”

Montague, who now serves as Senior Associate Dean of Academic Programs and John B. McKinnon Professor and Associate Professor of Accounting, began teaching accounting at Central Carolina Community College in Sanford, North Carolina. During her near decade at the school, she rose through the ranks and found herself in line for an administrative position. But she realized that trajectory would take her further from the place she loved most—the classroom.

“I thought, ‘I like advancing in my career, but I’m not quite ready to step out of the classroom,’” she says. So Montague left the community college to pursue a Ph.D. in business administration at the University of South Florida. And in 2010, she came to Wake Forest to teach accounting.

In the years since, Montague has taken on administrative roles that include Associate Dean of the Master of Science in Management Program, and currently, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Programs. That role allows Montague to help shape the curriculum offered to students in a range of programs, from undergraduate to MBA, in-person and online.

“I work with the different programs to help them evaluate their curricula,” Montague says. “The idea is to make sure that we are delivering relevant content in accessible ways to our students, whether that content is online, hybrid, Saturday, face-to-face, etc.”

To help ensure curriculum relevance in the marketplace, Montague works alongside colleagues at the Center for Market Readiness and Employment, which provides career and life-planning strategies for business students and alumni. She also contributes to enrollment management, making certain that admissions criteria remain rigorous while also readily attainable to students across diverse backgrounds.

While Montague enjoys those administrative opportunities, the work she does in the classroom continues to fulfill her passion for working directly with students.

“I just really love working with students to help them reach their potential,” she says. “A lot of students take accounting because they have to, because they’re going into other majors. I love to make it understandable and meaningful to them and help students achieve their potential in whatever career path they choose.”

Montague teaches a class called Professional Life Skills, which offers students fundamental skills to be successful in their personal and professional pursuits. While these types of courses are taught at many schools, Montague wanted to take hers further, exploring the psychology behind the choices we make concerning money, risk and planning for the future. 

“It was really important that they understand the psychology behind the things that keep us from achieving our goals,” she says. “They understand that it’s not just, ‘Set a budget,’ or ‘Go invest.’ There are barriers that are very real for students. So I want them to know who they are before they get to that point so they can successfully implement the financial wellness best practices.”

Montague’s mission in this class corresponds with her work in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through the American Accounting Association. She serves on their Board of Directors as the Vice President of DEI, where she is part of a group working on creating an inclusive classroom learning series.

“We have a group working on understanding how teaching evaluations are used for performance reviews and promotion and how they may be misused, particularly with faculty from underrepresented or 

historically marginalized backgrounds,” Montague says. “We have another group working on the publications process and how we can make that more inclusive, not only in how the process unfolds when faculty submit papers to be published in journals, but also the nature of the research that is published.”

Montague says Wake Forest provides the ideal setting for exploring those concepts of equity and diversity. And whether she’s working with colleagues or guiding students in the classroom, there’s a shared sense of camaraderie and a dedication for equipping graduates to be as successful as possible once they leave campus.

“There’s something really special about Wake Forest,” she says. “I work with great people who are all aligned on our mission, our vision and our values. And the interaction between faculty and students is so genuine and meaningful.”

Dr. Norma R. Montague

Senior Associate Dean of Academic Programs, John B. McKinnon Professor, Associate Professor of Accounting

(336) 758-4302 |

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