In this week’s column, I will be reviewing the College’s objectives we had set for the 2021-2022 academic year and share with you how we did. Next week, I will follow up with our objectives for this academic year and share with you our new strategic plan.
Last year, we identified five pillars – research, DE&I, undergraduate program, graduate programs and strategic planning – to the College’s mission to improve the human condition in an ever-changing society and formulated objectives for each of these pillars. The great progress we have made in these areas is all thanks to your hard work!
Following are highlights of some of the notable achievements of faculty, staff, programs, centers, institutes and other groups forming the Mendoza community toward each of these five pillars and objectives in the past year. A more comprehensive report (although still not inclusive of all of our activities) is available online.
Objective #1: Emphasize research excellence.
- Launched the Ph.D. Program in Management and the Ph.D. Program in Analytics – historic firsts for the College – with four students enrolled in each program’s inaugural cohort. You can visit the brand-new Ph.D. student offices in Mendoza’s basement and read the students’ profiles here.
- Launched the Business Ethics and Society Program (BESP) with Jim Otteson as academic director to support interdisciplinary teaching, research and other scholarly activities to further understanding of how business can contribute to integral human development.
- Established two new research labs:
- Human-centered Analytics Lab (HAL) with Rob Easley and Ahmed Abbasi named as co-directors.
- Gaming Analytics (GAMA) with Nick Berente named as the director. - Hosted high-level academic conferences, including:
- CARE Conference 2021: Accounting for Sustainability and Responsible Investing
- The 41st annual Management Communication Association Conference hosted by the Fanning Center.
- Investment Management Conference hosted by NDIGI and the Finance Department.
Objective #2: Engender a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture.
- Appointed Kristen Collett-Schmitt as the inaugural Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion. Her role will focus on student programming and working with leaders across the College to form a more inclusive environment for our students in the College.
- Partnered with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and with Marian University to provide leadership development programs for underrepresented people to prepare them for graduate business programs.
- Hosted NDIGI’s fourth annual Women’s Investing Summit (WIS ’22) where 100% of the speakers were prominent female executives.
- Dedicated efforts toward building a “culture of encounter” for faculty, staff and students through shared social events and celebrations, leadership engagement opportunities and recognitions of team and individual excellence.
Objective #3: Enhance the undergraduate curriculum.
- Debated and decided on the new Business Core curriculum, resulting in a comprehensive revision that expands undergraduate students’ academic opportunities and provides greater flexibility in plans of study while enabling increased specialization.
- Launched the Business Honors Program, with Jim Otteson as faculty director and Craig Iffland as program director.
- Integrated analytics across the curriculum, implementing the new requirement of all business majors to take the new Coding Fundamentals with Python course by the end of their sophomore year.
- Expanded the undergraduate Innovation & Design Thinking learning opportunities led by Management & Organization teaching professor Wendy Angst, offering three sections serving 100 students to teach them the fundamentals of design thinking working on an experiential learning project around community engagement in Uganda.
Objective #4: Elevate the Notre Dame MBA, Specialized Master’s and Executive Programs.
- Established the Stayer Center as the new home location for the MBA program, adding new team rooms, renovating space for a lower-level student lounge and installing new furniture in the third-floor lounge, among other improvements.
- Continued the focus on growing applications and enriching the class profile, and improved the student experience across their entire student journey through efforts such as increased collaboration, alignment and consistent messaging across the matrix structure. We were glad to see the improved ranking (to No. 25 from No. 36) of our MBA Program in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
- Expanded graduate experiential learning opportunities, including hiring key positions for the Experiential Learning Program team and expanding the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program to four different MBA courses for the first time.
- Launched the MSBA-Sports Analytics program.
- Created and launched a new Specialization in Ethical Leadership Program in partnership with ND Learning through Coursera.
Objective #5: Engage in strategic planning and continuous improvement.
- Renewed our strategic plan using the University’s process, forming the Strategic Planning Committee under the leadership of Rob Kelly and Kara Palmer and in partnership with the Office of Strategic Planning (more on this next week).
- Continued to advance the matrix organizational restructuring and staffing of functions to support the entire College, which included introducing a leadership structure to support our degree programs and restructuring staff leadership by creating a new senior director of operations position and hiring Rob Kelly.
- Instituted changes to our budgeting and financial planning processes, under the leadership of Tracy Biggs, to provide accurate and timely reporting, increase spending discipline and support future planning for the College’s strategic initiatives.
I hope this report gives you a better idea of the many activities, projects and programs going on in the College. I am so grateful for your contributions as individuals and teams.
Yours in Notre Dame,
Martijn