‘AI Is The New Excel’: Kelley Dean Patrick Hopkins On ‘Future-Proofing’ Faculty & Students

“We share the Kelley brand,” Hopkins says of Kelley’s Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses, “but too often act as two separate universities. We need more collaboration, more complementary programming, and fewer silos”

ACCOUNTING, AUTOMATION & OPPORTUNITY

A former accounting professor, Hopkins knows his own discipline is among the most vulnerable to automation. But he sees echoes of past waves of disruption.

“I remember in the mid-1980s when I carried around a Compaq computer with two floppy disks running Lotus 1-2-3. The business press predicted the demise of accounting and finance jobs. But what it really did was grow the profession. Automation took away the basics, but created huge opportunities for insight.”

The same, he believes, will happen with AI. “There will be some pain, but the opportunities are enormous if we’re nimble and smart. The next generation of leaders has to understand how to use these tools — and how to spot garbage when systems churn it out.”

FACING THE HEADWINDS

Hopkins is blunt about higher education’s reputational challenges. “There’s a perception of devaluation of degrees. We have to promote the value of what we do. This has to be a value-based market — and the graduates we produce must contribute in meaningful ways when they graduate.”

That, he says, is why Kelley continually sources employer feedback, updates its curriculum, and adapts quickly. “Ultimately, our admissions will be judged on one thing: probability of a good job. That’s the market reality.”

The school’s most recent graduating undergrad class achieved a 96% placement rate, even amid reports of high unemployment among 21-year-olds. “We’ve invested in the skills companies still value. And that’s paying off.”

BREAKING SILOS, BUILDING SCALE

Hopkins is also working to strengthen ties between Kelley’s Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses, which operate under different leadership and budgets. “We share the Kelley brand, but too often act as two separate universities. We need more collaboration, more complementary programming, and fewer silos.”

Scale, he adds, is Kelley’s secret weapon. With more than 137,000 living alumni and eight majors ranked in the U.S. News top 10, the challenge is to “make big feel small.” Investments in micro-communities and student experience are designed to keep Kelley personal while leveraging its size.

‘OUR SECRET SAUCE IS OUR PEOPLE’

Hopkins admits the job is demanding: endless alumni events, donor meetings, strategy sessions, and faculty initiatives. “This office is the nexus of everything that happens at Kelley,” he says. “The biggest surprise has been just the sheer volume of it all.”

But what sustains him, he says, is the culture. 

“Our secret sauce is our people. Kelley has an innovative culture, incredible faculty, amazing staff, and alumni who care deeply. The imperative now is to make sure we’re all equipped for the future — faculty, staff, and students alike.”

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