Kaylee Yen is a freshman majoring in accounting at the Leventhal School of Accounting. She’s active in her field; in high school, she involved herself in accounting clubs and extracurriculars, and her mother was an accountant before her. But at Leventhal, she struggles to find community or school identity.

“I don’t think there’s that strong of a culture, especially because there’s not that many people in [Leventhal],” Yen said.

When Andy Call, Leventhal’s new dean, was presented with this concern, he grinned.

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“I’m actually encouraged to hear that feedback,” Call said. “I care a lot about community, and that feedback suggests that efforts to strengthen the community that already exists would be well-received on campus.”

Call is no stranger to campus culture. He graduated from Brigham Young University, received his doctorate from the University of Washington, began his teaching career at the University of Georgia and served as the director of the School of Accountancy at Arizona State University for six years. His eclectic academic background offers insight not only from within Leventhal but from the outside looking in.

“Putting me aside, the Leventhal school is widely known — even beyond the Trojan family — as being one of the very best, if not the best, accounting school in the world,” Call said. “Having the opportunity to lead the school is great; it’s a huge responsibility too.”

Call’s mindset is to position students for success using the resources and prestige already available to them. One of his goals is to cultivate a supportive student body capable of building networks in college that they can utilize deep into their careers.

“[Students] can all succeed, and they can all help each other succeed. It’s not a zero-sum game, especially in Leventhal, where there [are] so many recruiters that are really just eager to hire them,” Call said. “It’s not like there’s ten of them fighting for one job, that’s not the situation. They can all succeed, and their success can have a multiplier effect.”

Mika Gabrielyan, a junior majoring in accounting, was confident in the practicality of programs at Leventhal.

“All the classes are good; all the programs that I’ve been a part of, I’ve been actually learning,” Gabrielyan said. “This degree actually preps me to work in the field that I’m studying.”

This sentiment was echoed by Call, who stressed the practicality of a Leventhal degree.

“So far, the proof is in the pudding,” Call said. “The market is speaking … as evidenced by the types of employers that come to campus to recruit our graduates, and the zeal with which they come.”

Call also serves as an editor for The Accounting Review, an accounting journal of the American Accounting Association. He said this position allows him to monitor “timely topics” in the world of accounting, allowing for swift reactions to industry developments relevant to Leventhal programs. Among these is the recent emergence of AI in the workspace.

“Some of that lower-level, mundane work just isn’t being done by skilled professionals, they can automate that away,” Call said. “And that’s a good thing. That’s not something I mourn at all.”

Call admitted that as artificial intelligence eliminates these routine tasks, there’s a greater focus on high-level skills in graduating accountants. While he acknowledges this as an added pressure on academic institutions to prepare their students, he sees it as an exciting opportunity.

“We need to rise to that opportunity,” Call said, “and make sure our students are shovel-ready when they graduate,” Call said.

He also lauded Leventhal’s alumni network, saying he’d found that they “identify with Leventhal a lot.” From Detroit to San Francisco, he’d found committed Leventhal alums who were excited to reconnect with their school. He aims to bring that same warmth to the existing student body and create a culture of support in the school. He spoke on his mindset toward the current Leventhal community.

“I care a lot about people, just in general,” Call said. “People over programs. If we don’t care about people, then what are we doing? The reason we have good programs is to help people. People often go to do good work in the workforce ultimately to help people … I want them to be supported.”