A few years ago, on a Football Friday, I ran into legendary basketball player and Mendoza alumna Ruth Riley Hunter (EMBA ‘16, ND ‘01) on campus. Ruth had taken my EMBA class several years ago, and after catching up about the latest developments at Mendoza, she looked at me seriously and asked, “When is Mendoza going to create a program specifically for women? Something only Notre Dame can offer?” 

Her question left me speechless. It also sparked something inside me: an urgency to create a program that filled a crucial gap in the University’s offerings.

That spark led to the creation of ND Elevate, a professional development program launched in 2022 for aspiring leaders. The program focuses on addressing common workplace challenges, particularly those faced by women. Through a combination of online learning modules, in-person workshops with Notre Dame experts and a mentorship network, participants are empowered to develop skills in resilience, negotiation, presence and authenticity.

ND Elevate was born out of the University's “Moment to See, Courage to Act” grant initiative, which called on Notre Dame faculty to propose innovative, forward-thinking plans inspired by lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the grant, ND Elevate partnered with Beacon Health Systems, Notre Dame's Office of Human Resources and the Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership to expand leadership training beyond campus. This fall, ND Elevate is launching a new collaboration with Notre Dame Athletics to support the personal and professional development of student-athletes.

The decision to partner with ND Athletics is purposeful. Studies of Fortune 500 CEOs have shown a strong link between athletic participation and corporate leadership. While the percentage of women in corporate executive positions at publicly traded U.S. companies remains low at about 11.8%, a recent EY study found that 94% of the women in leadership positions previously played sports. 

As a College, Mendoza has embraced this partnership as part of a larger effort to raise awareness of its graduate business programs and support athletes pursuing careers in business. ND Elevate is open to junior, senior and graduate student-athletes who are non-business majors, passionate about women’s leadership and eager to grow as leaders.

From contributing research to teaching in-person sessions and mentoring participants, Mendoza faculty, staff and alumni have been integral in bringing ND Elevate to life. I especially want to thank former women’s basketball coach and Mendoza adjunct Muffet McGraw, Ruth Riley Hunter, former Mendoza dean Carolyn Woo and faculty members Cindy Muir, Jessica McManus Warnell, Angela Logan, and Amanda McKendree for their contributions to the learning modules. Additionally, I’m grateful to Hether Graham for her support during the earliest versions of ND Elevate, and to Rob Kelly, Carol Elliott and Jen Wade for their support in connecting ND Elevate with our graduate business programs through the ND Athletics partnership. A special thanks also to the faculty and staff mentors who will be guiding student-athletes this fall, including Wendy Angst, Patty Brady, Susan Kleiser, Michael Meyer, Kris Muir, Fred Nwanganga, Kelly Rubey, Chris Stevens, Jessie Watkins, Katie Wowak and Tom Gallagher. I encourage others interested in mentoring future cohorts to reach out.

Notre Dame’s mission to build a society where all can flourish aligns perfectly with ND Elevate’s goal of creating more inclusive communities where everyone can thrive. I’m incredibly proud that our University and College have embraced this vision to support aspiring leaders in such a meaningful way.

In Notre Dame,

Kristen

As previously announced, we will break ground this spring for the North Addition, providing expanded resources for serving our undergraduate students. While that is certainly the “headline news” for the College, we have been fortunate to receive several additional gifts in the past year or so totaling nearly $30 million to advance our strategic objectives.

Here is a roundup of recent gifts:

Human-centered Analytics Lab (HAL) ($10M): HAL, co-directed by Ahmed Abbasi and Ken Kelley, was launched in 2021 and is structured around a multidisciplinary topic with a distinctly Notre Dame-centric mission: to better understand the human condition in the context of the digital life of persons. In HAL’s approach, analytics has a purpose: Problems are framed, critically considered and evaluated with rigorous methods to understand the human condition. The work cuts across the disciplines of computer science, statistics and psychology resulting in a unique research perspective, one deep in methods and broad in application. 

The $10M gift that has been pledged, once in place, will help Ph.D. in Analytics students and faculty affiliated with HAL to develop scholarship in this critical, emerging area and to bring their experience and novel findings into the classroom and beyond. HAL will host interdisciplinary conferences to bring together scholars and provide a forum for research that considers the development of innovative methods and the application of advanced and non-standard methods to study HAL-related phenomena.  

Trading Room ($7M): The Trading Room will showcase our finance programs by providing a state-of-the-art learning space where students and faculty can research financial markets and investment management. To be located just inside the main entrance on the building’s east side (currently Suite 123), the room will feature a modern exterior design with a floor-to-ceiling glass-paneled front for high visibility. The interior space optimizes collaborative, project-based work, seminars and training with multiple stock tickers, large video screens displaying dynamic financial information, Bloomberg terminals and student workstations. The Trading Room will serve as a home for several key courses and clubs, and extend the footprint of the Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring semester 2025.

The artist's rendering depicts the new Mendoza Trading Room, which will shape the future of finance education at the University of Notre Dame.  (Note: This is an example, not an exact rendering.)

Powerful Means Initiative ($7M): If you haven’t watched the “What Would You Fight For?” spot featuring PMI, I encourage you to do so! The inspiring feature produced by Notre Dame showcases the important work of PMI, an immersive experiential learning program that provides Mendoza undergraduates the opportunity to engage with project partners over multiple semesters to help design, support and implement solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems. Founded and directed by Wendy Angst, the initiative is currently working in partnership with the Archdiocese of Gulu and St. Bakhita Vocational Training Center in an impoverished region in northern Uganda to ensure the girls at the school have the resources and support needed to thrive, to enable St. Bakhita's to be self-sustaining and to improve the economic prosperity of the region. The gift supports Wendy’s position as director and the initiative overall. 

Business Honors Program (BHP) Faculty Director ($3.5M) and Program Director ($3M): These two gifts will support the ongoing work of BHP, which is led by faculty director Jim Otteson and associate faculty director Jeff Burks and currently includes 208 undergraduate students. BHP takes a deeper look at the moral purpose of business and how it can contribute to human flourishing. The program offers our students a rigorous, specialized course of study with research-focused courses, as well as programming that includes opportunities for tutoring, mentorship and distinctive coursework such as “Why Business?” “Meaningful Life in Business” and the Honors Colloquium. 

Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program ($1M): The work of Frontlines is perhaps more important than ever since its founding in 2008. MBA student teams continue to work with partner organizations across the nation and the world to co-create business solutions for some of the most difficult societal problems. The gift will support program operations as Frontlines in America prepares to send teams in October to work with Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, Coalfield Development in West Virginia and Tribal Minds Inc. in Nevada. This spring, the Business on the Frontlines course plans to send teams to Uzbekistan, Uganda and Honduras, while the newest Frontlines course, Regenerating Ecologies and Economies for Livelihoods (REEL) partners with organizations in Peru, Uganda and Guatemala.

I am deeply grateful to our generous benefactors, who include alumni, parents, BAC members and friends of the College who share our vision for Mendoza’s future.  I also want to thank Lou Nanni and University Relations for their support, and especially our academic advancement director Aimee Sharpe, who has worked tirelessly to represent and promote the mission of Mendoza. Finally, I am grateful to the many faculty and staff members who lead and support the initiatives above and were critically important to securing the benefaction.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Last week was a special time of celebration for the Notre Dame family. I hope you were able to attend the inauguration events and I appreciate those of you who served in various roles, from picnic setup to serving as marshals. 

I was inspired and challenged by Father Bob Dowd’s call to action to Notre Dame, as one of the most trusted universities in the world, to embrace an attitude of “both/and” to build bridges in our polarized times – both faith and reason, research and teaching, local and global,  the life of the mind and the matters of the heart, deeply Catholic and welcoming people of all faiths. Father Bob outlined three groundbreaking commitments of his new administration, including that the University will be loan-free and need-blind for all undergraduates, both domestic and international.  I encourage you to listen to his address.

Today, I’m also pleased to highlight recent research published in top academic journals:

Ben Golez, Associate Professor of Finance
Holding Period Effects in Dividend Strip Returns (Review of Financial Studies)
The researchers estimate short-term dividend strip prices using 27 years of S&P 500 index options data (1996-2022). Their findings reveal that short-term strips have Sharpe ratios similar to or better than the market, with low market beta and positive alpha. Additionally, term premia and Sharpe ratios vary countercyclically, while alphas trend pro-cyclically.

Andre Martin, Assistant Professor of Marketing
Can Words Speak Louder than Actions? Using Top Management Teams’ Language to Predict Myopic Marketing Spending (Journal of Marketing)
This research introduces a text analysis method to predict myopic marketing spending (cutting your marketing and R&D budget) by analyzing Top Management Teams' language in earnings calls. Using linguistic analysis of nearly 11 million sentences from over 25,000 earnings call transcripts, the model predicts short-term marketing decisions up to a year in advance. The approach outperforms existing models, offering earlier warnings and 1.61% higher annual returns, helping reduce information asymmetry for investors and boards.

Daewon Sun, Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Shawn Qu, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Yoonseock Son, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Capitalizing on the Moment: The Strategic Role of Information Disclosure in Online Crowdfunding (Production and Operations Management)
Online crowdfunding platforms offer new opportunities for entrepreneurs to secure funding, but the timing of campaign updates remains unclear. Using machine learning-based text analysis and econometric models on a dataset from a leading online crowdfunding platform, this study shows that updates are most effective in early stages and their effectiveness varies with project’s fundraising performance. Timing is crucial for inexperienced creators, whereas experienced creators gain more from the richness and positive sentiment of the update content.

Ann Tenbrunsel, David E. Gallo Professor of Business Ethics
Bridging the Chasm between Intentions and Behaviors: Developing and Testing a Construal Level Theory of Internal Whistle-Blowing (Organization Science)
The study examines how and why elements of the organizational ethical infrastructure – the set of formal (i.e., codes, policies) and informal systems (i.e., unwritten rules) – motivate ethical whistleblowing intentions and convert those intentions into behaviors. The researchers find that top management communication systems cultivate whistleblowing intentions, and ethical surveillance and sanctioning systems help convert those intentions into behaviors; further, construal level explains these findings. 

Hal White, Vincent and Rose Lizzadro Professor of Accountancy
Testing the Waters Meetings, Retail Trading, and Capital Market Frictions (Review of Accounting Studies)
Before an IPO, firms can now engage in private (“Test The Waters”) meetings with institutional investors to discuss firm details. While these meetings are argued to be beneficial, they have the potential to undermine the SEC’s objectives of protecting investors and supporting market efficiency by allowing institutional, but not retail, investors privileged access to management. The study suggests that while TTW meetings may harm retail investors, there does not appear to be a negative impact on overall market function.

Thank you to Ben, Andre, Daewon, Shawn, Yoonseock, Ann and Hal for your research contributions. 

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Greetings to you all as we begin the third week of the 2024-25 academic year and prepare to inaugurate Notre Dame's 18th president!

I write to share some new developments and enhancements to our undergraduate business program:

New Associate Dean
As part of her new role as associate dean for the undergraduate and specialized master's programs, Kristen Collett-Schmitt brings welcome support and immense experience to academic director Amanda McKendree and me as we plan for and strategize the future of Mendoza's undergraduate program.

Advising Transitions in 101 Mendoza
Last month, the Office of the Provost announced an Undergraduate Academic Advising Initiative that will transform the way undergraduate academic advising is conducted on campus. In brief, what this means for Mendoza is that during the 2024-25 academic year, we will move from the current model of four First Year advisors (dedicated to Mendoza first-year students and reporting to the Center for University Advising) and our team of four Mendoza advisors (who advise sophomores, juniors and seniors) to a combined four-year advising model staffed by nine four-year advisors employed fully by Mendoza. This is very welcome news for us in Mendoza, as for more than two years Dean Martijn Cremers and I have been strongly encouraging the University to consider this new model. We believe that the outcomes of this initiative will benefit and better serve both all of our Mendoza undergraduate students and the members of our combined advising team.

Maximizing Mendoza and Mentorship
In fall 2023, we piloted a new one-credit general elective course, BAUG 13100 Maximizing Mendoza. The course aims to showcase the academic offerings provided by each Mendoza academic department and various career opportunities and resources, while also encouraging students to build a professional brand aligned with both their personal values and Mendoza values. Feedback from the 100 undergraduate business students who voluntarily registered for the course was wildly positive, with 91% recommending the course to future first-year students and 96% reporting that they were glad they took the course.

This fall, in alignment with the dean's objective to create more mentorship opportunities for Mendoza undergraduates, the course is offering a peer mentorship opportunity in collaboration with the Business Honors Program (BHP). Though not a course requirement, more than 90% of first-year students opted to be part of this pilot in which first-year Mendoza students taking Maximizing Mendoza will be paired with a Mendoza senior in the BHP who will serve as a trained peer mentor.

Mentorship has been a core component of the Business Honors Program since it launched in 2021. BHP mentorship program manager Helen Keefe (MBA '23) shares:

"The BHP challenges its students to discern the specific ways in which they can take seriously the call to serve others, using the intellectual, moral and professional formation they receive to advance the common good and the integral development of society. Closely aligned with this vision, the mentoring program in the BHP was designed to assist students in matters of career discernment and advancement. Mentoring can help them recognize opportunities for personal growth and formulate concrete strategies to address those areas where they see they most need to improve."

At the end of this fall's pilot, we're hopeful that our first-year students will report a greater sense of belonging in Mendoza and that our Mendoza seniors serving as peer mentors will find the experience of assisting younger students transformative.

If I've kept your attention this long, please know that I share my very best wishes with you now and throughout the year. And go Irish!

Andy

Andrew W. Wendelborn
Assistant Advising Professor
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies