Andrew Call Named New Dean of Leventhal School of Accounting
Andrew Call Named New Dean of Leventhal School of Accounting
Call plans to build upon Leventhal’s storied legacy as accounting education leader
Andrew Call will be the incoming Alan Casden Dean’s Chair for the Leventhal School of Accounting
[Photo courtesy of Andrew Call]
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Andrew Call will be the new Dean of the Leventhal School of Accounting starting September 1.
Call is known for his inclusive decision-making, innovative teaching, and influential research — hallmarks he’ll emphasize at USC as well as further cultivating the sense of belonging among Leventhal’s close-knit community.
“Andy’s career has been remarkable. He is a distinguished scholar, an award-winning teacher, and a proven, collaborative leader,” Dean Geoff Garrett said. “As a champion of faculty, staff, students, and a dynamic academic culture, he is perfectly positioned to lead Leventhal to even greater heights as a global leader in accounting education, research, and thought leadership.”
Call is joining USC from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Since becoming director of the school of accountancy in 2018, Call recruited and retained more top research and teaching professors than ever in the school’s history, greatly increasing the faculty’s racial and gender diversity. He also launched a scholarly conference to enhance the school’s reputation and grow opportunities for faculty and Ph.D. students, led the development of multiple pathways that expanded access to education and careers in accounting, and elevated his department to top ten worldwide in accounting research productivity.
The prestige of Leventhal and the academic quality of its students are well known across academia and the accounting profession. It drew Call to USC.
“It’d be an honor to join this faculty in any role. To join as the dean is a huge opportunity, a unique challenge,” Call said. “I look forward to building on the school’s long-standing reputation through impactful education, research, and access that ensures our students continue the Leventhal legacy of excellence.”
Named the Alan Casden Dean’s Chair, Call will succeed William W. Holder who is retiring and returning to the faculty after 13 years of service. Dean Holder believes Call’s track record and multifaceted experience strikes the perfect balance to become the next leader of Leventhal.
“The noble profession of accounting is more than just numbers. It is the backbone of every business, propelling forward important decision making in terms of investments, resources, and growth,” Holder said. “Andy has his finger on the pulse of what’s now and what’s next in our industry, and his vision will further the Leventhal School’s long and rich tradition of excellence that sets our students up for success.”
It’d be an honor to join this faculty in any role. To join as the dean is a huge opportunity, a unique challenge.
— Andrew Call
Incoming Leventhal Dean
Strengthening the Pipeline
Once he arrives this fall, Call plans to “listen and learn” as the school continues to embrace its role in growing the talent pipeline to meet industry demand. Call will highlight the new and exciting career pathways the profession has to offer for graduates, including ESG and risk management and other areas of accounting that are making an impact on society, highlighting accounting as an attractive major for students.
“We need to think outside the box as to what the future is,” Call remarked. “Accounting is an unbelievable way to start your career in business, even if you’re not going to be an accountant.”
Within his more than 20 years in academia, Call has a dedicated focus on teaching students, instructing undergraduate, graduate, and PhD level students. For Call, success means ensuring that Leventhal’s curriculum remains cutting edge. Technical fluency stands out as an important focus and Call wants to dispel the myth that technology will automate accounting into obsolescence.
“Accounting firms are leaning in because technology helps make them be more productive, expanding the scope of services they can provide clients,” Call explained.
According to the incoming dean, the financial industry will gravitate toward Leventhal’s tech-savvy graduates.
“The future is really bright for people who see the vision of what’s coming to the profession. For those students who can marry new advancements in tech with their accounting expertise, the sky’s the limit,” Call added. “Our students will be choosing which of the many great offers they’ll be taking out of college. That’s a huge opportunity, and an attractive advantage for Leventhal.”
People Business
People are the most important asset in any organization, especially academia. Ensuring the Leventhal community succeeds will be Call’s most important job function. Another value Call plans to champion is student access.
The incoming dean sees it as his duty to bring higher education to people who are often left out. At ASU, Call spearheaded partnerships with accounting professionals to support community college students as they transferred into the School of Accountancy. He also led a significant redesign of master’s programs’ curricula, incorporating real-world learning, data analytics, and sustainability topics. His integrating technology into the undergraduate accounting program increased the school's U.S. News rankings by nearly 10 places during his tenure.
“What’s important to me, just as part of my own DNA and value system, is supporting our people, of course primarily, our students and their career trajectories,” Call said. “But it’s a lot more than that; it’s our faculty and our staff, and all of these people who make Leventhal so special.”
Making that one of his top priorities has already made an impression.
“Dean Call’s sincere commitment to creating a supportive and thriving environment was evident throughout our meetings,” said Smrity P. Randhawa, the Patrick Grismer Teaching Chair in Accounting. “Given his passion for our people, the faculty will be excited to work alongside him.”
Call believes good things happen when you have the right people in place, including the school’s connections with USC’s vast alumni base. “The strength of the commitment from the Trojan Family, but also within Leventhal, has been so impressive,” he added.
Call holds a doctorate in accounting from the University of Washington and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University. In addition to his roles at ASU, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia’s J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the Terry College of Business.
Call is an editor of The Accounting Review, the flagship journal of the American Accounting Association. As an award-winning scholar, Call has focused on various financial reporting topics, including the role of equity analysts in the capital markets and the role of whistleblowers in the discovery of financial misconduct.
Born and raised in Southern California, it’s an exciting homecoming for Call, but the opportunity to join and lead Leventhal is what compelled him to return. The incoming dean will bring his love of Chipotle, pickleball, and golf to Los Angeles this summer, when his wife, Charis, and their four children make the move to the Golden State.