Cassidy Diaz
Assistant Editor
Anwar Salimi’s “Last Lecture” on campus this week was titled “Final Exam: Reflections from a Retiring Professor.”
Salimi, a professor of accounting who has been teaching for more than 40 years, spoke on Tuesday in the La Fetra Auditorium before a small group of La Verne community members.
Before coming to the University 12 years ago, Salimi taught for 33 years at Cal Poly Pomona.
Salimi’s talk reflected on his experience as a professor, highlighting his accomplishments and challenges. He also talked about his plans for retirement.
“There’s something about being in a class explaining and teaching students,” Salimi said. “You see that gotcha moment when they find out something that they wanted the answer to, and (that) makes it really worthwhile.”
When Salimi first started teaching, he said he was nervous because knowing the subject and being able to teach it are different.
He learned to see the work and the learning from his students’ perspective, and understand what they wanted to get out of his classes.
“You’re impacting their life in some way, big or small, and it’s always a great pleasure and honor to meet former students,” Salimi said. “Especially when they tell me that their life changed in some way because of what they learned in class.
“Another thing I really enjoyed about teaching is that I found that I get energy from being in class and interacting and being in front of the audience,” Salimi said.
Research was also a highlight of his career. He’s produced over 30 publications, over 12 during his time at La Verne.
Salimi also touched on this least favorite part of the job – grading his students’ work.
“You have to discriminate among people based on whatever you think is best, and students always want to argue for a higher grade,” Salimi said.
He talked about how accounting has changed over the years and how AI is impacting education.
“While it’s not replacing us completely, some of the more routine aspects may be replaced by AI,” Salimi said. “It’s going to affect everything, and technology has impacted us quite a bit, and it will continue to affect us.”
He said that technology has quickly been adopted by accounting firms which are embracing the use of AI.
“All kinds of auditing and so on are being replaced by AI and I’m sure that will come to the classroom as well,” Salimi said.
In retirement Salimi plans to travel and to get back into reading for fun.
“I’ve been planning to read for years,” Salimi said. “I would like to read … detective novels, horror stories or classics.”
Salimi’s colleagues appreciate his contributions both within and outside of the classroom.
“(Salimi) has always been a very gracious individual and I appreciated … his character and his decency,” said Yehia Mortagy, professor of information technology and decision science, who attended the lecture.
“He’s going to be sorely missed,” added Claudio Muñoz, professor of accounting, who was also Salimi’s student at Cal Poly.
Salimi and Muñoz, along with Professor of Accounting Renee Miller, created the master of science in accounting program at the University.
“It was always so much fun to be here and so I kept putting (retirement) off and enjoying myself, and I still am,” Salimi said. “But I knew at some point I wanted to make a new beginning.”
Cassidy Diaz can be reached at cassidy.diazgomez@laverne.edu.
Cassidy Diaz is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print and online journalism. She is also news editor for the Campus Times, and previously served as an assistant editor and a staff writer.
Marina Bravo is a senior communications major with a concentration in public relations. She is arts editor and a staff photographer for the Campus Times, and has previously served as a staff writer and photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. She enjoys going to live shows and everything spooky.
