Dear Colleagues,
The many changes through which Mendoza has gone in recent years have included the creation of the Business Honors Program (BHP) and the Business Ethics and Society Program (BESP). I’d like to give you a brief update on both.
The BHP is now completing its second year, and we’ll soon be reviewing applications from current first-year students to join its third cohort. We have 60 students in each of our two current cohorts, so 120 total at the moment. Once we add our next cohort of 60, we will be at 180, which we anticipate to be approximately our steady state. Our students come from all Mendoza majors, and represent a nearly exact male/female split.
The BHP has a distinctive purpose. Honors programs at other institutions typically look only at academic achievement—the top 5% or 10%, say, of student GPAs determine who’s admitted. Our BHP, too, looks at GPAs and other indicators of academic achievement, but we also look at character. Our aim is not merely to reward people who get good grades, but also to encourage character formation that reflects Notre Dame’s distinctive two-fold academic and moral mission.
In other words, we want students who have, and can develop, a personal commitment to “Grow the Good in Business,” to seeking and finding a moral purpose that they integrate into their professional lives. We want our graduates to be ambassadors of not just the skills, knowledge and ability but the integrity and service that distinguish Mendoza and Notre Dame.
The BHP’s core components are honors courses in each major and academic department; Friday colloquia throughout the academic year, featuring prominent businesspeople who discuss the challenges and successes of their journeys; one-on-one mentoring for all BHP students; and optional enhancement events, including everything from service opportunities to bowling, escape rooms and an annual formal ball. This year, the BHP has also assumed responsibility for Mendoza’s undergraduate tutoring program, for which dozens of our BHP students have volunteered.
How are we doing so far? It’s still early, and we have far to go and much to learn, but we have had some initial signs of success:
- The number of applications. During our first year (2021), when no one really knew what the program would be, we received 176 total applications for our 60 spots. Our second year (2022), we received 245 total applications, a 40% increase. We haven’t yet begun receiving applications for our 2023 cohort, but we had over 250 first-year students attend our information session in late January.
- Feedback from our students. We continue to receive positive feedback from our students regarding our programming, and we regularly solicit—and receive!—advice and suggestions for improvement.
- Attendance at our events. Two examples: Our first formal ball last year had 128 in attendance; our formal ball earlier this February had 242. Our first football game tailgate in 2021 had approximately 220 attendees; our last tailgate this past fall had almost 800!
- Eventually: alumni involvement. We have no graduates yet—the first cohort will graduate in 2024—but we will track and monitor our alumni carefully once we have them.
- Financial support. The BHP was initially funded by a generous gift from the Babiarz family, and last fall we were the beneficiaries of an endowment pledge from alumnus Sean Klimczak that was among the largest single gifts Mendoza has ever received.
The BHP is still growing and developing, and we’d love your help! Here are some ways you might consider becoming involved:
- If you’re not receiving our weekly BHP Bulletin, please sign up by contacting Tess Geishauser.
- We would be happy to have you nominate or recommend students. We’d also welcome volunteers to review student applications.
- We welcome your ideas for service projects, courses, activities or any other ways to engage students and enhance their experience.
- Feedback: we welcome your thoughts about what we are doing well, what we need to work on and what we should change. What opportunities are we missing?
If you would like to help, make suggestions, or become involved in any way, please reach out to me or anyone else associated with the Program.
The other program we have begun is connected with the Business Ethics and Society Program, which the College Council officially created in the Spring of 2022.
Our first official act was to hire Mary Hirschfeld, who joined the BESP (with a joint appointment in Theology) in July 2022, and who boasts a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and a Ph.D. in theology from Notre Dame. In partnership with David O’Connor, professor of philosophy here at Notre Dame, we have also developed a new undergraduate minor called Business and the Common Good, which will explore virtue in business by drawing on perspectives including philosophy, theology, economics and Catholic social thought. The “gateway” course for this new minor debuted this spring, and the minor itself will be officially launched in fall 2023. Ann Tenbrunsel and Fr. Ollie Williams, along with Mary Hirschfeld, Dave O’Connor, John Sikorski and me, round out the BESP faculty.
We are in the process now of creating a dedicated website that will detail information regarding the BESP and its minor, so please stay tuned!
On behalf of the BHP and the BESP, we thank you for your support and partnership. We thank in particular Dean Martijn Cremers and the entire Dean’s Office. We thank the members of the BHP team, Crystal Boser, Tess Geishauser and Craig Iffland, and we thank Andy Wendelborn and his Undergraduate Studies advising team for their invaluable advice and support. We also thank our colleagues in the BESP for their wisdom and counsel. And we thank all of our colleagues, too numerous to mention, who have taught honors courses, given us advice and feedback, addressed our students and contributed in countless ways. We look forward to working with you closely as these programs grow.
In Notre Dame,
Jim Otteson