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