From the Dean's Desk

The next level

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 14 September 2020
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I recently participated in a livestream interview with Lou Nanni, vice president for University Relations. During the interview, Lou asked me about my strategic vision for the College; specifically, he asked, what are my plans to take the College to “the next level”?
It’s an important question, which I interpret as asking where the College could be in five to 10 years. It’s also a challenging question, as we necessarily need to be very focused on managing the current changes and disruptions due to the pandemic, which makes it harder to continue to “elevate, cooperate and integrate”; i.e., to also work on our strategic vision.
I will mention a few of our strategic initiatives to advance our mission through initiatives centered on the imperative to Grow the Good in Business — to contribute, cooperate and compete with a view that centers on serving others, especially those who have the greatest needs:
Undergraduate Scholars and Honors Program: The aim is to elevate our undergraduate program by further challenging our most academically gifted and academically ambitious students in the Scholars Program by offering honors sections of existing courses as well as (mostly new) honors courses, where both honors sections and new honors courses offer accelerated and advanced content. The Honors Program would further allow students to write a thesis supervised by a faculty member. Associate Dean Jim Leady is taking the lead on working toward developing plans for both programs. We hope to launch the Scholars Program in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Business Analytics: We will continue to integrate analytics throughout our curricula. For undergraduates, the ITAO team of Sriram Somanchi, Fred Nwanganga and Xiaojing Duan with assistance from Rob Easley and Bob Lewandowski has been working hard to create a new course required for all business majors, Fundamentals of Coding. The course will give students a basic level of understanding that in turn allows us to integrate analytics and coding in all of their subsequent courses. Although I didn’t talk about this specifically in the interview, we have the same goal to integrate analytics throughout our graduate programs curricula. For example, we added a new data analytics concentration as well as a host of new accounting-focused data analytics courses to our MSA program.
Frontlines: As you know, we recently received a significant gift from Ken and Susan Meyer that will allow us to expand the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program. The gift allows us to offer the Frontlines experience to all Notre Dame MBA students, as well as to pilot a domestic version this year, Frontlines in America. The team of Viva Bartkus, Joe Sweeney and Kelly Rubey also are creating a shorter term Frontlines Engagements course.
COVID-19 has been a challenge. At the same time, these past months have helped us recognize that we're here for a purpose, to work together, to help each other and to teach and serve our students. You have brought your “A” game! We’ve learned a lot, and because you have been willing to really step up and work together, we've been very resilient. It's times like this that show that we are very much a strong community, and I actually think that through the great adversity and the mistakes and the pivots and the changes and asking more and more of you, of all of our faculty, staff and students, we've become an even stronger community.
Lou also asked me what my first year serving as dean has been like and whether there have been any surprises. To the last question, I can answer, YES. A minor surprise is that I get way more emails than I could have imagined. More importantly, I have been surprised with how patient, gracious and generous you all have been with me as I started and continue in this new role, even as I’m making mistakes and learning, and I'm so grateful for all the help that I continue to receive.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Guest column: Mike Mannor

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 7 September 2020
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
2020 has been tough on everyone. Through our struggles as a society to grapple with a global pandemic, tribalism, systemic racism, police violence and shortcomings in diversity, equity and inclusiveness, we also have a moment to reflect on how our institutions serve our society in support of our collective values.
Tragically, recent news brought more reports of suffering in the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This tragedy, together with the heartbreaking stories of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many more — going back to Emmett Till and the untold numbers of victims  before and since — bring the sobering realities of inequality and discrimination into clearer focus.
At Notre Dame, our values as a Catholic institution guide us forward. In addition to recognizing the gravity of the moment, we are committed to taking substantive steps to improve the diversity of our community and to foster inclusive excellence throughout our College. We must grapple with our legacy and current shortcomings with a spirit of transparency and openness, and, I believe, pursue change as both a moral and professional obligation.
To this end, good steps forward are happening throughout our College. Nearly every week, there are new opportunities for our community to come together and listen to each other and discuss these issues. Some recent examples include the Mendoza sessions organized by Kara Palmer with Eric Love and Pamela Nolan (make sure to mark your calendar for our next meeting at 3 p.m. Sept. 24 with Angela Logan, who will focus the conversation on implicit bias).
There is also the University’s Diversity Practitioners Group and a series of opportunities to build an anti-racist vocabulary. If you have not explored the resources provided in the “Diversity and Inclusion” section of the Mendoza Exchange website, I would encourage you to review the 127 content items currently included on the topics of racism at work, faith, teaching, books, films and more.
Much of the hard work of change requires specific and sustained attention, which is often only possible through concentrated efforts in smaller groups. I was particularly encouraged by the M&O department’s session recently on inclusive excellence with a focus on racial justice and equality, which included a reflection on Dean Marcus Cole’s essay, “I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.” This is part of an ongoing series of inclusive excellence workshops that occur multiple times a year with all of the faculty in M&O. I know other departments and administrative groups have conducted or are working on similar initiatives.
Our undergrad students recently worked to build awareness about racial injustice with the Notre Dame Strike for Black Lives virtual demonstration. Students shared a message of solidarity in their Zoom classes and left after one minute, using that time to educate themselves on racial justice issues.
In the MBA program, our students have risen to this challenge. A task force of students, administrators and alumni met throughout the summer to hold listening sessions, reflect on our program’s shortcomings and draft recommendations for moving forward. I am pleased to share the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force recommendations with all of you. In total, the team iterated over many issues, consolidated, negotiated and advanced 44 targeted recommendations across four thematic areas of focus: transparency, investment, mentorship and signaling. Fifteen of these recommendations are highlighted as top priorities and cut across all parts of the MBA program experience. I encourage you to read these recommendations and consider how you might join with me, Martijn, Kelli Kilpatrick and the entire MBA program team to move forward in these important areas.
Like many of you, I come to all of this with a thankful spirit and an open mind. I am thankful for the commitment of our students and alums to dedicate themselves toward progress. I am thankful for the legacy of Father Hesburgh and Notre Dame to take steps forward over the last 50 years. And especially, I am thankful to all of you for your partnership in joining together in this challenging and important work.
#GoIrish!
Mike
Michael J. Mannor, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for the MBA Program
John F. O'Shaughnessy Associate Professor of Family Enterprise

Writing the comeback

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 31 August 2020
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On Friday, Father John announced the good news that we will resume in-person teaching in our undergraduate program as of Wednesday (September 2). Following the University’s directions, we will be using a phased approach with some classes starting this week and some the following.
I’m proud of our students and the efforts they’ve made in these past weeks so that we can get back to in-person teaching, as the University also improved its systems and procedures. I ask all of you to do what you can to encourage them to continue to follow the University safety guidelines, especially those of you who have a direct relationship with them. The University sends them regular updates, but I’m sure words of concern and personal interest from the faculty and staff carry a lot of weight.
We remain committed to in-person teaching and doing everything we can to keep each other safe so that we can be here together. At all times, we each must examine how we can do better and work toward doing better for each other, as we continue to hold each other accountable as well.
I think that it is always useful to share these public health protocols – essential to our being able to continue in-person instruction – with our students: Wear a mask, practice social distancing, avoid any social events with more than 10 people, avoid any social events where physical distancing or mask-wearing is not practiced, wash hands regularly, complete the daily health check and show up when selected for surveillance testing.
In addition, this has been a stressful time for many. We should encourage students — as well as all of us — to seek support through University resources and advisors. As you have opportunity, ask students what the on-campus experience has been like for them and for any suggestions they have to improve their learning experience. I, along with the associate deans and academic directors, am always interested in hearing from you and our students.
As Father John said, “Together, we are writing one of the great comebacks in Notre Dame history.” That “comeback” certainly could not happen without the incredible efforts of our faculty and staff, for which I’m most thankful.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Guest column: Jim Leady

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 24 August 2020
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Greetings everyone!
I am writing this update in the wake of Fr. John Jenkins’ announcement about the (hopefully) temporary shift to online learning. I want to thank all of our faculty and staff for their commitment to teaching and academic support excellence. Over the last several months, you have embraced new modalities and technologies, adapted to an ever-changing landscape, and invested countless hours preparing for a wide set of contingencies. Because of your efforts, I am confident that though our students’ learning experience may be different this fall, it will still be distinctly Notre Dame and everything that embodies.
As we transition to teaching online, I would ask you to favor live to asynchronous instruction, though I recognize there is no one-size-fits-all approach. I would also ask that you continue to leverage the amazing expertise and resources we are blessed to have at Mendoza and Notre Dame: the Mendoza IT team; our director of online initiatives, Bob Lewandowski; ND Learning; the Resilient Teaching website, and many more. I am grateful also for each department’s online teaching experts who we all lean on.
Our advising team in the Office of Undergraduate Studies continues to provide superb guidance to our students. Over the last year, I have really come to appreciate all they do for our students and faculty.
Our undergraduate program is implementing some significant enhancements during this coming academic year. Students will now declare their business major in spring of their first year. This shift will allow students to accelerate their major curriculum, better prepare them for internships and align our process with the other colleges on campus. During this transition year, current sophomores will declare their majors this September. We continue to support extended discernment, emphasizing to the students that they may later change majors.
We are also introducing the new Fundamentals of Coding class into our required business curriculum. This course will prepare students in all majors to better understand the opportunities and limitations of data analytics, professionally translate between project teams and engineers/coders, and kick start their coding skills. It will also enable Mendoza instructors to rely on this course to provide the baseline coding skills so that upper-level classes could focus on applying the skills to the business discipline. I’d like to give a shout out to Fred Nwanganga, Xiaojing Duan ​and Sriram Somanchi for leading the development of this course.
We are elevating our undergraduate curriculum by creating Scholars and Honors programs that we hope to pilot this spring. These layered programs will challenge our brightest students and prepare them for placement into top-tier graduate programs and analytically intensive jobs in industry.
Lastly, this fall, we are continuing a comprehensive review of our undergraduate curriculum that we paused with the advent of the pandemic.
Best wishes and GO IRISH!
Jim Leady
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
Associate Teaching Professor

Business as unusual

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 17 August 2020
Today’s column is a sincere letter of gratitude to all of you, the faculty and staff of Mendoza College of Business.
Just six months ago (which now seems like an eon), we were going about our business as usual— teaching classes, conducting research and hosting events, and rolling out a new vision for the future of Mendoza that included our new tagline to “Grow the Good in Business” with a new marketing strategy offering key promises to our students, plans for a new building, new classrooms, expanded programs, a new organizational structure and more.
And then the coronavirus hit, and the way we went about our business changed in drastic ways as the campus emptied and we pivoted to online teaching. At the same time, we should consider all that didn’t change. We continued to teach and do research. We continued our planning for elevating our programs, for cooperating more across programs and groups, and for a more integrated vision of business. We continued to improve our building, although in a scaled back way. And perhaps most importantly, we continued to support each other and our students as a community.
During the summer months, you’ve been able to hear about many of these developments through the Mendoza Exchange Guest Columns provided by associate deans Ken Kelley, Walt Clements and Kristen Collett-Schmitt, as well as Kara Palmer and Doug Franson. (Jim Leady and Mike Mannor are up next!) I greatly appreciate their contributions, which have provided insights and updates in their particular areas of responsibility.
I hope these columns also have helped you to understand the level of activity that has continued to go on at the College, even while the halls and offices were empty and most of you worked from home. At this moment in time, we are able to step into the new academic year with hope, purpose and, yes, some nervousness, because of the extraordinary efforts and commitment that you all have devoted to your work, to supporting each other and to the larger mission of Mendoza.
To give you an idea of how the fall semester is shaping up, I invite you to review this list of “Mendoza Fast Facts for Fall 2020” for an overview of faculty/staff numbers, program enrollment, courses and other information. We’re a busy place! A few additional items to note:
  • We recruited 18 new faculty members, including three in endowed chair positions: James Otteson, John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics; Ahmed Abbasi, Joe and Jane Giovanini Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations; and Jason Colquitt, Franklin D. Schurz Professor of Management.
  • We received a generous $15 million gift from Ken and Susan Meyer to name and endow the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program, which will allow us to significantly expand this innovative MBA program initiative under the leadership of Viva Bartkus.
  • We recruited a new Two-Year MBA class that is 32% women – the highest percentage in 10+ years.
All of these items are noteworthy and things that I’m very grateful for. There’s something else, though, that I’m most grateful for can’t be expressed in numbers: Your inspiring attitude as you put in the hours and hours of work to continue serving our students and uphold the standards of Notre Dame.
We do not know what the future holds. We don’t even know what the football season holds! But we know that we will continue to care for each other with grace and patience, and to pray for the many who are suffering across the globe because of COVID. You can find two prayers for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic written by Pope Francis here to be prayed after reciting the rosary. We’ve included part of one of the prayers below.
Thank you and GO IRISH!
In Notre Dame,
Martijn
Pope Frances: Prayer to End the COVID-19 Pandemic
"We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God."
“In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and our mother, and seek refuge under your protection.
Virgin Mary, turn your merciful eyes toward us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Comfort those who are distraught and mourn their loved ones who have died, and at times are buried in a way that grieves them deeply. Be close to those who are concerned for their loved ones who are sick and who, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, cannot be close to them. Fill with hope those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy and employment.
Beloved Mother, help us realize that we are all members of one great family and to recognize the bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate countless situations of poverty and need. Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant in prayer.
Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will stretch out his all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely resume its normal course.
To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.”

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