I want to highlight two important events happening in the College next week.

On February 11-13, the College will host a team of faculty and administrators from peer and aspirant business schools as part of our accreditation by AACSB International, a global nonprofit association that is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools offering undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. 

The College first received AACSB accreditation in 1962. The Accountancy program, which is reviewed separately, has been accredited since 1984. Since then, we have participated in a five-year “continuous improvement” peer review to extend the accreditation.

The peer-review team will be on campus to meet with our deans, chairs, senior directors, faculty and students. The review also involves the submission of an extensive continuous improvement report about the College’s activities and accomplishments, to which many of you contributed data and information. 

The report was a substantial project and I appreciate the contributions of Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Ken Kelley, Letecia McKinney, David Smiley, Diego Wang, MinHee Myung, Amanda Rink, Carol Elliott, Zara Osterman, the academic directors of all programs and others who provided information. The Accountancy report was completed by Brad Badertscher, Fred Mittelstaedt, Jim Seida and Barb Westra. Thanks also to those of you who are participating in the upcoming visit.  

Notre Dame Ethics Week also gets underway next week with the theme of “Artificial Intelligence: Its Ethical Possibilities and Problems.” This year, we are featuring an all-Mendoza lineup of faculty members who have deep knowledge and research expertise in AI. The topics address current issues around AI that are the subject of daily headlines. The talks take place from 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m. February 12-16 in Mendoza room 133. 

• February 12 (Monday): Ahmed Abbasi, Joe and Jane Giovanini Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations; Academic Director of the Ph.D. Program in Analytics and co-director of the Human-centered Analytics Lab, “Artificial Intelligence's Major Challenge:  Striking a Balance Between Innovation and Precaution.”
• February 13 (Tuesday): Kirsten Martin, William P. and Hazel B. White Center Professor of Technology Ethics, “Who is Responsible for Algorithmic Recommendations Online? (And Other Pesky AI Questions).”
• February 15 (Thursday): Greg Robson, visiting assistant research professor of Business Ethics and Society, “Planning Future Economies: Can Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted?” 
• February 16 (Friday): Nick Berente, professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations, “Artificial Intelligence's Use, Impact and Necessary Guardrails.”  

I hope you will attend as your schedule allows. My thanks especially to Ken Milani, who has faithfully organized Ethics Week which is now in its 26th year, as well as to Claire Donovan, Bob Essig and John Sikorski.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn