Hi, Everyone,

I hope your summer is going well and that you’ve been able to take some time to rest and recharge following a very busy 2021/2022 academic year. On July 1, I stepped into the role of senior associate dean for academic programs here at Mendoza. This new role is part of the associated structural and personnel changes within the College announced in June. As part of my transition, I’ve been fortunate to have conversations with a wide range of people inside and outside of Mendoza about all of our outstanding programs, so I appreciate the invitation to contribute a guest column with some thoughts on what my role entails and what my approach will be.

First, I want to begin by thanking Dean Martijn Cremers for giving me this opportunity to serve in this new role and to work with such an outstanding group of staff, faculty and students. I’m excited to collaborate with you all to continue to enact Dean Martijn’s bold and innovative vision for our College.

I also extend my deep, abiding thanks to those who served as associate deans for our academic programs during the previous three academic years: Walt Clements (EMBA), Kristen Collett-Schmitt (Specialized Masters), Jim Leady (Undergraduate) and Mike Mannor (MBA). Finally, I want to thank in advance those members of the College with whom I will be working closely, including the staff functional leaders, academic leaders of Mendoza programs, academic leaders of department programs, Mendoza department representatives, Dean’s Office representatives and many others.

In terms of my aims and agenda for the new role, frankly, I’m still wondering about that myself to some degree. It’s going to take me more than a few weeks’ transition to determine this fully. That said, I think I’m now in a position to be able to offer some specific thoughts.

Structurally, I’ll be responsible for overseeing the Mendoza’s undergraduate and professional programs, both degree and non-degree. Thus, I see my core focus as ensuring that our programs continue to fulfill our core mission via the College’s “Three C’s” strategic framework. As Dean Martijn notes, “We are committed to our mission to Grow the Good in Business by developing leaders who contribute to human flourishing, cooperate with others in solidarity and compete toward becoming the best version of themselves through serving others.”

Our programs serve as one of the most critical engines driving this mission, manifested in the thousands of myriad individual interactions with our students that, in total, add up to a set of life-changing experiences that shape students’ personal identities for years and decades after they leave our campus. Our students place great faith in us when they entrust us with their time, energy and financial resources, and I’m honored to be working within a college and a university that are so deeply committed to repaying that faith by helping students develop into the scholars and leaders they’re capable of becoming.

In more concrete terms, my own two watchwords for the next year will be “community” and “efficiency.” In other words: 1) How can we build and further strengthen the interpersonal and inter-program connections that link all of us? and 2) How can we more effectively implement the many exciting new initiatives and changes that we’ve witnessed within College programs during the past two years?

As you all know, we’ve been dealing with a great deal of change lately. Let me be clear that I don’t think change is always, or even usually, bad; in fact, I strongly believe that many of the changes we’re all grappling with at the moment will form the bedrock of our competitive advantage as a college for decades to come.

That said, we have been dealing with a *lot* of upheaval. To take just a few examples, in the Undergraduate Studies program, we now have a completely revised the core curriculum for the first time in decades and launched an entirely new undergraduate Business Honors Program. The MBA program has been restructured around a new “pathways” approach, including novel, off-campus opportunities such as Mods-Away.

Further, we’re in the process of revamping the entire basis of leadership training for our professional students; we’re looking to substantially enhance our offerings in the area of experiential learning; we’re dealing with ongoing personnel changes and new hiring; and we’re still figuring out the best way to implement the new matrix structure within the College.

We’ve seen the introduction of several new master’s programs, and the College is experimenting with new non-degree offerings as well. Moving beyond graduate and professional programs, Mendoza is about to welcome to campus its first crop of Ph.D. students in its 100-plus-year history, and we’ve started a new Business Ethics and Society program that is designed to attract the best and brightest minds to our campus.

And, by the way, we’re doing all of this in the context of having just emerged from a generation-defining pandemic, which was amplified by our University’s courageous stance on maximizing in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible throughout. I’ve seen everyone in Mendoza perform heroic feats during the past couple of years to make all of this happen.

Is any of this inherently problematic? Certainly not. But it does mean that we now have an opportunity and an obligation to ensure that these changes in College programs are integrated as thoroughly and seamlessly as possible. Therefore, my goal for this time next year is for all of our programs to be characterized by stronger interpersonal links and for us to have moved closer to implementing many of our current changes, becoming a well-oiled machine again, and thereby providing the exceptional level of operational excellence that our students and other stakeholders have always valued at Notre Dame.

Thank you in advance for your support as I transition into this new job. Please consider this an open invitation to reach out to me at any point if you’d like to discuss anything related to my role or College programs in general.

Sincerely,

Craig

Craig Crossland
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs

I am pleased to recognize the following Mendoza faculty members receiving 2022 teaching awards, and congratulate them on their teaching success:

Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching honors faculty members who have had a profound influence on undergraduate students through sustained exemplary teaching.

Frank O’Malley Award is presented to a faculty member who demonstrates a commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Provost’s Award for Academic Support of Student-Athletes honors a full-time Notre Dame faculty or staff member who consistently works to support student-athletes in reaching their full academic potential.

Joe and Gina Prochaska Family Teaching Award recognizes a faculty member teaching in the undergraduate program of the Mendoza College of Business for outstanding teaching as voted on by the Mendoza graduating class.

James Dincolo Outstanding Undergraduate Professor Award honors a faculty member from each of the five academic departments who exhibit sustained excellence in undergraduate teaching in her or his discipline.

Graduate teaching award recipients are chosen by the students in the respective program in recognition of excellence in the classroom.

I also recognize the following faculty members who are moving to emerita or emeritus status as of July 1:

Lastly, please join me in thanking accountancy professors Ken Milani and Jim Wittenbach for 50 years of service to the University. Ken and Jim have served the College across 10 deanships (eight different deans) and shaped the College through their love of teaching, scholarship and research, dedication to the community, wisdom and humor.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

My message today is one of appreciation for all of you who contributed to our Commencement Weekend. It was a fantastic weekend that included some special events, such as Jerome Bettis’ receiving his degree, the dedication of a bench overlooking the east side of Stayer in commemoration of late EMBA student Michael Carroll, and an inspiring address by Suni Harford, the president of UBS Asset Management. Even the weather cooperated!

We conferred degrees to 1,205 Class of 2022 graduates — 583 from the undergraduate program (22 January graduates and 561 this weekend) and 628 from the graduate programs. About 10,000 guests collectively attended the College’s commencement events.

More than 70 Mendoza faculty and staff members assisted with the planning and execution of these events, not including the associate deans, the chairs and other faculty and staff who served as emcees or other capacities. I am very, very grateful and appreciative of everyone who helped out to make this weekend a fantastic celebratory experience for our students and their families.

I especially want to recognize the members of the diploma ceremonies’ planning committees. Because we changed the way we organized the ceremonies this year — hosting six ceremonies plus three receptions instead of two ceremonies and a single reception — the committees had to start at square one in making all of the arrangements.

A huge kudos to the Student Services and Facilities and Program Operations teams, and in particular their respective leaders, Christine Gramhofer and Morgan McCoy. They and their teams planned, organized and orchestrated six diploma ceremonies with three vibrant receptions over the Saturday and Sunday of Commencement Weekend. Strong leadership is what makes the difference between a good event and a great experience, and we're blessed to have two of the strongest professionals tag-teaming one of the most visible and important moments in the student journey.

Andy Wendelborn, Samantha Crisp and Teresa True played significant roles in serving as ceremony leads for our six ceremonies. They took the lead on organizing the planning committees and led them in facilitating efforts such as ceremony check-in processes, scriptwriting, graduate lineup, logistics and so much more. Amanda Rink and Laura Glassford supported the undergraduate ceremonies as well as members of Amanda's team. Joseph Torma, Meghan Huff, Jennifer McGuire, Wendy Walker and Connie Varga were instrumental in planning the Dean’s Receptions on Saturday and Sunday at Stayer.

Thanks to all of the members of the planning committees:

Lastly, if you didn’t attend the interdisciplinary graduate ceremony, I encourage you to watch Suni Harford’s address on the theme of “world at a crossroad.” (Her talk begins at the 46:47 mark.) I’d like to share with you two brief quotes:

"Anyone can lead, and yet not everyone leads. Leadership by any other name is courage. Courage to challenge the status quo. Courage to lead by example and asking others to do only that which you would do yourself. Courage to put others on your team first. Courage to admit that you don’t know everything. (You know a lot. But you don’t know everything.) Courage to speak up if you see something that doesn’t feel right. Courage to be inclusive, to seek views other than your own; courage to share credit. Courage to be true to yourself."

"For that is what true leadership does. Sets an example. Stands up to opposition. Inspires others. And leverages individual efforts to drive impact. And that’s the point I would like to leave you with. Everyone can make an impact. You don’t need a title. You don’t need to sit at the top of an org chart. You can lead, every single day, from your first day on the job to your last. You need only decide that you are going to make an impact."

I’m thankful to all of you who have an impact on our students, the College and the University through your commitment to serve.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

During the recent Mendoza Staff Town Hall, I had the pleasure of announcing the recipients of the 2022 Mendoza Dean’s Awards for Excellence. These awards were inaugurated in 2021 as a way to highlight and reward the hard work and dedication of our staff members.

They specifically recognize staff for outstanding achievements in three ways: To elevate the work we do; to integrate efforts across teams and programs; and to cooperate with one another to achieve success. Nominations can be submitted by anyone in the College, and are reviewed by a cross-functional College committee representing different teams, roles and levels.

These are the Dean’s Awards for Excellence recipients for 2022:

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Elevation: Graduate Admissions Operations and Pipeline Teams
Award recipients: Jodie Campbell, Colleen Cota, Amy Dame, Heather DeCourval, Helen High, Kellie Rzepka, Tashia Thornton, Annette Tysver, Angela Wesley and Janel Zakrewski-Kuntz.

The award is presented to a team that identifies new opportunities for Mendoza to collectively compete in the business school landscape. These teams have shown exemplary accomplishment toward a significant achievement through innovative thinking. Their efforts differentiate the work we do through advancing the vision and mission of the College and helping others to do the same. Their accomplishments include revamping the application to make it more inclusive in assessing candidates, scheduling more than 900 interviews, processing a nearly 30% increase in applications and partnering with vendors to reduce bias through the application process.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Integration: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grow the Good in Business Case Competition
Award recipients: Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Carol Elliott, Martin Johnson, Angela Logan, Joan McClendon, Jessica McManus Warnell, Kris Muir, Minhee Myung, Hermalena Powell, Jessica Stookey, Tahra Taylor, Wendy Walker and Brandi Wampler.

The award is presented to a cross-functional team that has worked together to accomplish a goal or complete a project that is in line with the vision, mission and priorities of the College. The team led by Kristen, Jessica and Joan collaborated over a period of months to launch this inaugural case competition, which provided our Specialized Master’s students with an educational experience that reflects challenges encountered by the broader society as well as real businesses. The competition generated community-based research for the State of Indiana and competition sponsors, provided the State with actionable steps to advance its commitment to DE&I and empowered our future leaders to make an impact in their organizations, community and the world. While there were many contributors across the College — much to my appreciation — these individuals served as part of the organizational committee in capacities that went above and beyond their day-to-day job responsibilities.

Award Recipients: Martin Johnson, who conceived and spearheaded the inaugural program outside his traditional responsibilities in Career Development; and María Stutsman y Márquez, who was pivotal in the execution of the program and the ongoing relationship with Alpha Phi Alpha.

The award is presented to a staff member (or members) who serves in a way that is respectful, fair and inclusive; benefits others; goes above and beyond his or her own personal interests; and acts altruistically for the benefit of the community. María and Martin were instrumental in establishing the College’s partnership with the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek lettered and oldest fraternity for African American men. This partnership resulted in the College’s hosting of an inaugural cohort of 11 fraternity members last fall for an immersive experience. The program created a unique and important opportunity to support the professional advancement and leadership of African American men through graduate business education and to enhance the diversity of our graduate students.

Congratulations to all of the Dean’s Award for Excellence recipients. Each individual will receive a trophy and a cash prize.

We had numerous nominees in all three award categories — all worthy of recognition. This made it difficult to choose the ultimate winners, and also speaks very strongly to the depth of commitment among our staff members at Mendoza. I’m very thankful for the talent and hard work so much in evidence every day.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn