Welcome back! I hope you had a restful break. What an exciting time to cheer on the Fighting Irish! I still haven’t recovered from the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl. What incredible victories. I am quite inspired by the toughness and grit of this team and Coach Freeman. I am particularly proud of the many Mendoza students on the team! 

As we embark on the second half of this academic year, I am glad to share the strides we are making in achieving the ambitious goals outlined in our 2024-2025 Objectives and Key Results. Together, we are advancing Mendoza’s mission to provide a world-class education rooted in faith, excellence and purpose; to foster impactful research that benefits business and society; and to cultivate a thriving and inclusive community for our students, faculty and staff. 

Below, I highlight our collective progress across the key areas driving our mission to Grow the Good in Business.

ADVANCING RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

• Securing Resources for Ph.D. Programs: I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve achieved a significant milestone by raising almost $15M for the Ph.D. in Analytics program. Additionally, the provost has committed $2M for our Ph.D. in Management program, faculty recruitment and research. This funding is in addition to previously announced benefaction for research, making 2024 our most successful year for research funding in the College’s history.
• Enhancing Research Infrastructure: Preparations for the Behavioral Lab, Trading Room and North Addition construction are progressing as planned. North Addition construction is starting ahead of schedule to ensure completion before the start of the Fall 2026 semester. Further, our College events team led by Meghan Huff has greatly enhanced the ability of our academic departments to host conferences, lectures and events. I recognize that the various construction projects will be disruptive to most of us — and very disruptive to some. We are committed to supporting all faculty, staff and students as best we can with the limited space we have. I hope for and appreciate your patience as these exciting improvements get underway.

ENHANCING UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

• Research and Honors Progress: The Mendoza Research Honors Program has been successfully launched! A dedicated Business Honors Program Curriculum Committee also has been established, with its inaugural meeting held on December 9.

• Curriculum and Program Development: Approval was secured for the Business & Computer Science double major program, which will provide an unrivaled new learning experience for students who aspire to be at the forefront of technological innovation and business strategy while also demonstrating a commitment to cross-campus, institutional thinking that is a hallmark of Notre Dame’s 2033 Strategic Framework. Specifically, this program will allow Mendoza students in any of our five business majors to take Computer Science as a second major.
• Student Programming Success: The new College-wide mentorship program is thriving, with more than 94% of First-Year students participating in the Maximizing Mendoza course led by Andy Wendelborn. They are mentored generally by our BHP students, who have shown great commitment to service through this effort. We look forward to growing our mentorship presence and growing the Maximizing Mendoza course.

ELEVATING GRADUATE PROGRAMS

• Curricular Innovation: Several curricular committees have formed for our graduate programs and are taking strides to consider how we can better tailor our programs to attract elite students. The scope includes course offerings, credit hours, requirements and grading structures. I look forward to Nick Berente, Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Gianna Bern and our academic directors presenting their recommendations later this year.
• MBA Strategic Planning: Our partners at Notre Dame Institutional Research, Innovation & Strategy (IRIS) have completed their fall research and benchmarking process for our MBA program, and will move forward with Nick and Gianna – supported by a group of faculty members representing each of our departments – on writing our strategic plan, due by the end of June. I am grateful for the unprecedented level of support from the provost and other University executives in prioritizing the Notre Dame MBA as our flagship graduate program this year, and for the effort provided by Rob Kelly and our staff leaders.

FOSTERING TALENT DEVELOPMENT

• Faculty Recruitment: We continue to focus on recruiting top-tier faculty and we are finalizing some incredible hires this fall. I especially thank Ken Kelly and the chairs for their diligence, hard work and commitment to excellence in all our recruitment efforts.
• Staff Development: Rob has spent much of the fall working closely with our partners in Human Resources, and we are making great strides in ensuring competitive staff compensation and supporting professional growth. Many of our staff have completed the University’s Change Management Certification program this fall, demonstrating their commitment to leadership and excellence. Finally, our staff has been selected to participate in a new performance management pilot program, and I am grateful to all the staff working on making the most of the opportunity. 

INNOVATING IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Experiential Learning Strategy: Nick and Gianna have worked closely with Megan Piersma and her team to evaluate many of our experiential learning programs this fall, including expenses, requirements, rigor and pathway alignment. Each of them has spent time traveling with our students to ensure a clear understanding of how to keep our offerings relevant and impactful for our graduate students. 
• New Spaces: As I mentioned above, I’m thrilled that three new construction projects are starting this spring that will transform and elevate our ability to support teaching, research and learning at an elite level. Our North Addition will include what we hope will be one of the finest classrooms on campus to support larger classes and lots of additional space for faculty and research; the new Trading Room will provide expanded, dedicated space for students interested in pursuing careers in finance; and our new Behavioral Lab will transform our ability to perform research experiments. 

BUILDING A VIBRANT COMMUNITY CULTURE

• Strengthening Workplace Engagement: Our “1Mendoza” culture is supported by increased cross-functional team integration and staff leadership initiatives. Social opportunities such as the Halloween costume contest and DEI Council-led events highlight the strong sense of community of our faculty and staff.
• Diversity in Admissions: Partnerships and tools such as the Duolingo English Test are increasing the quality and diversity of graduate program applicants, ensuring that our programs attract talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

Together, we are creating a stronger, more dynamic Mendoza to contribute, cooperate and compete for tomorrow's opportunities, guided by Notre Dame’s distinctive Catholic mission. Thank you for your continued dedication and partnership as we bring this vision to life.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn