Building Connections: How Calvin's Master of Accounting Program Supports Next-Generation Professionals
A MAcc advisory board member meets with a current student at the 2024 kickoff event.
Calvin University graduates often talk about an alumni network, an informally structured, yet remarkably tight-knit and well-connected global community that support each other and give back to their alma mater. In 2020, Master of Accounting (MAcc) program director Marilyn Stansbury and alum Aart Boterenbrood capitalized on that unique network with the launch of a mentoring program for MAcc students.
The program augments a MAcc degree designed not only to prepare students with essential accounting principles and skills, but to also help them develop a comprehensive understanding of their chosen profession.
New mentors receive a list of potential ways to support their mentee, including sharing experiences, directing mentees to valuable professional resources, and assisting a mentee with career growth. Stansbury emphasizes the reciprocal nature of the mentor-mentee relationship and says the program is designed to be self-directed, not prescriptive.
Assurance manager at Chicago firm Plante Moran and 2017 graduate Cameron Earnshaw served as one of nine mentors in the program’s inaugural cohort. He says he immediately saw the value of having a field guide during the transition from student to professional life.
“When I was going through that period, it was truly one of the more stressful times of my life,” Earnshaw says. “I could have used someone as a mentor to help me work through the process.”
He still stays in close touch with his first mentee, Owen Brookhouse, also a resident of Chicago. Similar in age, Brookhouse’s experiences were fresh in Earnshaw’s memory. “I could see myself in Owen—moving to Chicago, starting a new job, studying for the CPA exam. Although a couple of years apart, we were still going through the same stage of life and had a lot of shared experiences.”
As a student, Brookhouse says he valued the MAcc program’s emphasis on collaboration and ethics. “I love how the program stressed collaboration with peers and wasn't solely focused on memorizing information. Thinking deeply was a daily part of the program,” he explains. “Being able to discuss ethical quandaries as Christians is something that you can't get at other programs. I honestly think that the students leaving Calvin's MAcc program are equipped with the tools to change organizations for the better.”
For Brookhouse, a key aspect of being equipped beyond the classroom involved the mentoring relationship. Brookhouse felt comfortable bouncing questions off Earnshaw, who helped him navigate the day-to-day challenges of being a professional newcomer. “I would ask him about how to communicate with the people above me or about general questions with auditing,” Brookhouse says.
Earnshaw believes the unique pressures of the accounting profession make the mentor-mentee relationship especially valuable. Long hours and tight deadlines during tax season make establishing a healthy work-life balance challenging, for example. Problem-solving with clients navigating difficult financial situations adds pressure, too.
Six years into his own career and now in a management position, Earnshaw says he enjoys passing on the tips, tricks, and wisdom he has learned along the way. He sees the value of listening well and being able to say, “This is what I would do in that situation.”
Now in its fourth year, the program continues to thrive—Earnshaw now represents one of a group of more than 20 mentors paired with 50 mentees for the upcoming academic year.
“It’s amazing to see the level of commitment and dedication from Calvin’s accounting alumni as they give through the mentor program and many other ways. Such contributions are impactful and influential in helping our students to become agents of renewal in the world,” says Stansbury, who has been thrilled to see many mentoring relationships extend beyond the one-year commitment.
Earnshaw and Brookhouse say the experience has felt rewarding to them both—they still talk regularly and play club volleyball together once a week. What began as a mentor-mentee relationship has grown into a friendship rooted in common interests and shared experiences.
